It's only a goldmine if it's made available for sale. There are certainly albums in the catalogue which would surely sell very well, Bright Phoebus among them. The problem up to now is that Bulmer wouldn't release them. If you were able to track him down (no easy thing) you might be able to purchase a one-off burned copy on CD-R but that is not the same thing.

There are two issues with Bulmer's stewardship of this catalogue. One is cultural - the fact that a large number of important recordings have for practical purposes been made unavailable to the majority of people who might be interested in them.

The other is the claim that as a result of his refusal to publish the original artists may have lost royalties, which in some cases (Nic Jones among them) might have made a significant difference to them. That will depend on the terms of the contracts they originally signed with Bill Leader, and without sight of these it is not clear whether they would be entitled to anything.

Either way, this has been a sorry affair which has damaged folk music and the late Mr Bulmer's own reputation. I still hope that his beneficiaries, who now hold the rights to the catalogue, will take a more enlightened view. They have been keen to protect their rights, which is fair enough, but what are they now going to do with them?