Another thing from this concert that I felt was very significant....

At the beginning of the evening all the concert's guests were milling around getting their drinks and chatting in the large downstairs room and Dan, Tina and I went upstairs to the equally large upstairs room where the rows of the hired steel-framed upholstered chairs were facing the performing area in front of the fireplace. The three of us were going to be playing tunes as everyone came upstairs and took their seats.

Three very different chairs were in front of the fireplace. Clearly very old, rough, home-made looking wooden upright chairs, they were heavy and a fair bit larger than the modern dining chair. We took one each and they were actually much more comfortable than they looked. If they had a fault, it was that the wooden seats were a bit slippery as they had clearly been polished and smoothed by very many bums over a long, long time.

Later on, I introduced the Coppers (What a cheek! In their own house!) and the three chairs were move forward to make space for five Young Coppers (and later one much younger Copper) to stand and sing whilst John, Jill and Jon sat down.

Talking to Jill at the end of the concert, I asked her about the three chairs. "Oh!" she said, "I thought that everyone knew about those. They were made by Jim, my grandfather, and were in the cottage in Rottingdean where he lived all his life. After he died, Bob brought them to Peacehaven and when he died they came to us."

It's not just the songs that get passed down in the Copper Family....