I heard from Bob Kenward that Ray Styles of Tunbridge Wells died last week: the funeral will be on Wednesday at Tunbridge wells Crematorium.

Ray was best known in Kent for popularising the song 'Waltzing With Bears' which he heard at Broadstairs from Bayou Seco. Others (including myself and Mark Lawson) first heard it from Ray and gave it their own individual spin which, upon hearing the original from Bayou Seco, gives a clue as to how tradition works with half-remembered words and melody!

Ray was a regular at the Eight Bells in Tenterden in the 1990s and other clubs in West Kent. He had a small repertoire of little-sang humorous songs, such as 'Down in a Diving Bell' and 'Roseville Fair'.

(Not a good week for Kent, having read the news about Den Giddens in another thread today).