henryp. There's quite a few folk customs been brought back from the dead including Bacup, according to one authority of my acquaintance. One could also mention numerous one-time musicians and singers who were encouraged to re-hone their musical skills and present them to a new and interested audience. Among blues singers alone, I can think of numerous luminaries such as Son House, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White, Mance Lipscomb and John Hurt. Then there's the case of Joe Holmes (the Ulster singer and fiddle player, not the blues singer Joe Holmes who called himself King Solomon Hill), who never sang a note outside the house until Len Graham encouraged him to go public. Come to think of it, what sort of state would the Sheffield carols be in today, without the support and encouragement of Ian Russell.

So there's an awful lot to be said for judicious and respectful external encouragement of folk tradition. But there's a world of difference between that and invading someone else's beanfeast with no consideration for the locals.

However, I still cringe with embarressment whenever I recall the time I walked into someone's garden at Castleton. Purely by accident of course.

Les. Unless you have someone in particular in mind, then I must disagree. I can think of several whom I would delightedly put on a four hour roast. But by and large, collectors and folklorists are a pretty un-selfserving lot and they have done a vast amount to further our knowledge of folk tradition, and what our ancestors thought and felt and how they went about their lives. And that's not something I would ever have got from any schoolbook.

"Behold me now with my back to a wall, playing music to empty pockets." Antoine Ó Raifteiri.