I had never seen Martin Carthy in person but I had a much treasured, much listened to lp of Carthy with Dave Swarbrick. I too was very aware while enjoying the May day concert that Carthy's voice was breathy compared to the rich voice he had when he was younger. But his delivery, repetoire and guitar playing were all impressive.

This year I have also watched and listened to recebt videos of Joan Baez, Peggy Seeger, Shirley Collins and Gordon Lightfoot all passed their 80th birthdays singing and playing. It's encouraging to see they are still in good form. (I'm not sure whether Shirley Collins is still playing instruments, but I could see the other singers were).

I saw Pete Seeger perform briefly a few times when he was about 90. His voice was far from what it used to be, but he could still carry a tune and play the banjo quite well. He had been saying for some years that his memory was not so good, but he still knew words to enough songs. His hearing was poor, but that didn't prevent him playing and singing.