For several years and up until the time of his death, Gordon Hall was researching the Burstow repertoire. Tantalisingly it is at the end of his book 'Reminiscences of Horsham that Henry talks of songs and singing...the songs he knew are listed...some 420! No words, no music, just song titles and sometimes the title is what might be the first line. It was from this list that Gordon had the Herculean task of teasing out the words and music. It was a challenge for which he was well well equipped - a man of remarkable intellect and an auto-didact he attacked the project with all the vigour of a phd researcher. His work led him to The National Maritime Museum, The Bodleian Library, the VWML and all stations in between. The manuscript I believe now sits with a nephew who recognises its value as a piece of genuine research and I hope will ultimately be shared with enthusiasts. Interestingly, fate decreed that as a young man, Gordon lived in Henry Burstow's old house in Horsham.

These two men must have been similarly intellectually endowed and blessed with enquiring intelligent minds. Gordon relished the joy of singing just as described by Burstow all those tears before, who said -
"I do not know whether bell ringing or song-singing has yielded me the greater pleasure through life. Whilst the former has been my sole physical exercise, except the compulsory ones of walking and stitching (he was a cobbler), the latter has been my companion day after day in my journey from infancy through every stage of life to my now extreme old age"

Burstow's father was a singer too with over 200 songs to his name. Henry describes himself the ease with which he could acquire a new song -
"In learning and retaining all my songs my memory has seemed to work quite spontaneously, in much the same way as the faculties of seeing and hearing: many of the songs I learnt at the first time of hearing: others, longer ones, I have learnt upon hearing them twice through: none, not even 'Tom Cladpole's trip to London', nor 'Jan Cladpole's trip to 'Merricur' each of which has 155 verses, has ever given me any trouble to acquire'.

The frontispiece to Henry Burstow's 1911 book carries a photograph of the man - white haired and bearded wearing a frock coat and bold watch chain he looks benign and intelligent - he and Gordon Hall would have got along splendidly.

Now that Gordon's the gone, Jim Ward of Crawley is as fine a repository of Burstow and Hall law as I've found.