Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?

Subject: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 15 Jan 02 - 12:04 PM

Does anyone know if the unacc. harmony group ENGLISH TAPESTRY are still around ? They were based in Cambridge, UK and were a trio comprising husband and wife Brian and Ruth Britain (I think that's how they spelt it) plus a tenor voice (that part of the group varied over the years). I last saw them about 20 years ago when I booked them for my club at Blackheath, SE London. Ruth had just had a baby then. Beside the harmonies they managed some wonderful syncopation. I remember a lovely version of (Ralph McTell's ?) "Another Rain" as well as "Brig Fair" and a hunting song in which they had a chorus of hounds, horses, and finally huntsmen "Wah-wah-wah-ing" at the hunt ball.

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Ringer
Date: 15 Jan 02 - 12:55 PM

I know nothing of their current status nor whereabouts, but I remember having heard & liked them at a Unviversity Folk Club about 35 years ago.

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Mr Red
Date: 15 Jan 02 - 01:12 PM

Not unravelled yet, but a very appropriate THREAD. what?
Not seen them myself or heard of them in the last 15 years.

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Jan 02 - 04:32 PM

20 years ago was when I saw them too!! In fact, I still have the poster!!!

Whatever happened to them, did they ever record anything?

LTS

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 16 Jan 02 - 10:27 AM

Not seen them since they were at the Cambridge Mayflower in '91. I particularly remember their Origami version of "I have a Furze Field..."

AndyG may know something of them?

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: AndyG
Date: 16 Jan 02 - 01:30 PM

Well, well, well...

I can't be much help I'm afraid.

I can safely say that they (English Tapestry) are no longer performing. Whether their individual components (as it were) still perform I can't say. I can look into this when I next get a chance.

AndyG

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 17 Jan 02 - 03:51 AM

I knew James Eisner who sang with them for a while around 1981/1982 but havn't heard anything of them since. .... maybe he saw them off!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: English Jon
Date: 17 Jan 02 - 07:16 AM

Eisner is enough to see anyone off. Didn't realise he was that old.

EJ

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 03:40 AM

Do you know him then? Havn't seen him since an unfortunate incident at a party in the early 1980s when I think we upset him!!!

Sarah

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: English Jon
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 08:07 AM

oh! do tell...

Can't say I know him that well. I've got his album though which is >ahem< "good in parts", as the proverbial curate once said of his egg.

My mate Mike doesn't like him at all though...Apparently JE has been very rude on several occasions. None of my business though.

EJ

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: AndyG
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 12:40 PM

Yes, sorry Jon, James was in English Tapestry at one time and so he is that old.

Otherwise: "No comment".

And "iscrete" yG

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 03:31 AM

So what is he doing now guys? The "bromley incident" as it was cheerfully referred to at one time is definately not for a public forum but it was very funny at the time. Looking back it was a bit cruel but the basic concept was one of ego busting. Sounds from your comments like I failed miserably!!!

Sarah

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 06:12 AM

The Bromley Incident - if that's Bromley Kent then it's my part of the world. Tell me more.

Mind you, I was hoping to find out where Brian and Ruth were, but I do remember James as one of Tapestry's tenors.

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 03:33 AM

It is Bromley in Kent but as for the "incident" it is not for public airing!!!

Sarah

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: sledge
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 08:10 AM

Don't you just hate it when people go "I know something really juicy and I'm not going to tell you"

:)

Sledge

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 22 Jan 02 - 03:39 AM

I can do PM to anyone really THAT interested but I'm certainly not posting it here!!!

Sarah

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 22 Jan 02 - 10:56 PM

English Tapestry---once, about 35 years ago, in Hexham folk club; very good, as I recall. Can't see them being out and about without zimmers nowadays------

Subject: RE: Help: Are ENGLISH TAPESTRY still about ?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 23 Jan 02 - 05:13 AM

Boab, If you were around Folk Clubs in those days (I was) perhaps you won't be zimmerless much longer ! Anyway, if you read the top of this thread, Ruth had only just produced an offspring when I last saw her about 20 years ago - so they can't be that old.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,pollywog
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 08:11 PM

My uncle Andrew was in the group, I believe in the later years. I don't think he still performs with them though, and not sure if they are together. I may be able to find out...

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Doctor
Date: 30 Mar 12 - 06:58 AM

English Tapestry are definitely not still performing, more's the pity. Ruth and Brian Brittain still live just outside Cambridge, and their baby, Piers, has grown up. I remember your uncle, Pollywog, very well. He had, and probably still has, a great voice, which shone particularly when he did the Inkspots songs and the like. Ruth reckons her voice has gone, though I find that hard to believe. Either way neither she nor Brian sings much these days. They do have, however, a large collection of rehearsal tapes which, if all goes to plan, I am to help them transfer to CD, after which I hope to persude Brian to make some of them more widely available. I have a number of private recordings, but as several of them were made using battery-powered cassette recorders the quality leaves a lot to be desired. If anyone else has any recordings do let me know. 'Another rain', which was actually written for them, was always one of my favourites, along with The Holmfirth Anthem and The Streams of Lovely Nancy.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Sandman
Date: 09 May 12 - 06:26 PM

The Bromley incident, that sounds like Bromley Traditional Music club,I remember it well.
Unfortunately,Dave Bryant has died, as have most of BTMC.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Susie
Date: 09 May 12 - 08:43 PM

They performed for me at Folk At The Malt in Altrincham years ago and they were superb!

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,SRD
Date: 10 May 12 - 04:33 PM

They were guests at Farningham whilst I was involved there. We even persuaded them into the studio to hear what their set sounded like. I think Blossom tried to persuade them to make an album on the Coachhouse label but they decided against it. Whether the tapes of the live set were preserved only Blossom knows.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Cornish
Date: 30 Nov 12 - 03:50 AM

Love to get hold of a contact email for Andrew Taylor who sang with them in the 1970 ,s
If he is you uncle are you in touch?
He was my best man but lost touch this century !
Reply to [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: r.padgett
Date: 30 Nov 12 - 04:03 AM

Yes some nice traditional harmonies certainly Brian and Ruth are the main group (duo) team with added third member(s)

My personal view and I did see them live at least twice and someone has been good enough to let me have a copy of the recordings etc was that they were trying to be TOO GOOD, that is, in my view FOLK needs and expects singers to be real people with faults (o right sorry, yes)

Could find perfection a little irritating, songs are sung differently every time, not totally the same and with harmony this can change sounds a great deal!

nO futher elaboration as you could have a different opinion

Ray

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,John L
Date: 20 Dec 12 - 05:59 AM

I saw them at Toad Hall Folk Club Ilford in the late 60's or early 70's & they were superb! They certainly left a mark on my memory cos i've just looked them up on the internet! Nice to see that others remember them fondly too. What a shame tho that they never made a recording.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Dec 12 - 12:28 AM

They actually recorded a couple of tracks [one of them only seconds long] on one of Fred Woods' Folk Review records [which I still have on cassette somewhere, having sold my originals to one of these dealers who paid literally !00s of £ for rare old vinyl folk!]. But apart from that, no indeed, they never recorded becoz Brian was such a perfectionist that he never felt quite ready for it - to paraphrase a bit freely from how I recall his putting it at the time I interviewed them for Folk Review back in the 1970s. {If I feel a bit more energetic later in the day I might just see if I can turn up that interview in my full file of Folk Review, if I can just remember where that has got to. On the other hand - I might not!}

~M~

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: r.padgett
Date: 21 Dec 12 - 04:34 AM

O eck I must have a pirated track or two (given to me)!

Ray

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Roy Griffiths
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 11:51 AM

I sang with Ruth and Brian from 1980 - 82. James Eisner followed me and I replaced him again for a short time round about 1984 if I recall correctly. After that it all ended.
No recordings I'm afraid due to Brian never thinking it was good enough.
A shame really, I have one or two records of practice sessions we did and a couple of concerts too.

The first member was someone called Roy who was from St Neots and subsequently moved to Swanage, Dorset I believe.
Andrew Taylor followed and is the one most people remember.
Then there was another chap and I'm afraid his name escapes me at the moment.
Dave Griffiths followed him and finally me in 1980.
I moved from Cambridgeshire (where Ruth and Brian still live) in 2002 and have not seen or heard anything of them since then.

If The Doctor (above) does manage to persuade Brian to transfer anything to CD I would be very interested!

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 06:01 PM

Hello Roy, hope you are keeping well.Dick Miles

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Doctor
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 05:46 AM

I've just heard back from Ruth and Brian, with a list of third voices as follows:
Roy Harris (not THE Roy)
Andrew Taylor
Ross Winston
Steve Reynolds
Dave Griffiths
Roy Griffiths (no relation)
James Eisner

They are still interested in sorting out their recordings, but not ready yet. I live in hope. They still live near Cambridge.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: rumanci
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 08:20 AM

I'm another one who really hopes the recordings do happen and more power to your persuasiveness please.   They were part of the backdrop of my youth and my love of harmony today and for that I'm thankful but I'd love the source and the resource to be available for all to learn from and love too for all the right reasons in the word and world.
rumanci

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: Irene M
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 03:04 PM

There was some English Tapestry recorded off the radio on at least one of the cassettes I loaned to Chris Brady (?) 2 years ago for digitising.
Chris, are you still alive? Sane? Doing anything with the cassettes?

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Anon
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 09:27 AM

The First Folk Review Record
Various Artists

Folksound FS 100 (LP, UK, 1974)

There are two tracks recorded by ET on this old LP if you can find one.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Feb 13 - 10:00 PM

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Pollywog's Dad
Date: 26 Feb 13 - 10:09 PM

Sadly Andrew Taylor passed away on Saturday 23rd February 2013.
He always treasured his time with English Tapestry and valued the training that Ruth & Brian gave him. I have one track of Andrew singing with the Lassington Oak Morris Men which I will try and post on youtube as soon as I can. The only track of English Tapestry I recall is of them backing Ralph McTell (I think) in a track called Kew Gardens (I think)

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,daisydown
Date: 28 Jun 13 - 04:03 AM

This is a great thread. I used to sing in the folk clubs in and around Cambridge the same time as English Tapestry. Seeing that there are a lot of recordings on YouTube these days I was hoping to find friends from the 70's. I am still in touch with a couple of members of The Crofters. I've lived near Cambridge all these years - might have been neighbours. Now we are in Swanage. I was disappointed not to find more photos of ETapestry. perhaps their lives are full and happy enough without going back to the past.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Jane
Date: 08 Jan 14 - 06:57 AM

thank goodness it's not my memory playing tricks on me, and other people remember them as fondly as I do. Early 70's, in the barn at Farningham Kent, (resident band Skinner's Rats)Had to be there mega early on English Tapestry nights to get in. Anyone else remember "Winter's comin' in, we live a shorter day"? I can still hear that in my head, and I still get goosebumps from it. PLEASE, if anyone can get anything of theirs on CD, no matter how scratchy, it's so worth doing.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: Mick Tems
Date: 08 Jan 14 - 09:27 AM

I saw them at The Valley Folk Club in Pontardawe in the 1970s and they were just superb. Brian's hair was an absolute mane with a bushy dark beard - he looked most impressive! I think there were tape recorders on the go that night...

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: r.padgett
Date: 09 Jan 14 - 08:38 AM

Dr Peter Taylor is working on recordings and Mick Shaw from Bolton on Dearne way has some recordings too ~ both I believe in contact with each other, heard nothing lately

Ray

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Black Belt Caterpillar Wrestler
Date: 09 Jan 14 - 05:35 PM

I can tell you that they were feature on Folk on Two on 6th September 1983, performing Brigg Fair, Charming country life, Farewell Nancy and Laggan Love.

They were also featured on 1st May 1984, performing Spencer the Rover, Underneath Her Apron and and Kitten on the Keys.

I presume that these were the BBC's own recordings.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Doctor
Date: 10 Jan 14 - 10:39 AM

The problem with recordings is the same as it has always been, namely that Brian does not want any recordings made available that are not absolutely perfect. Which is why they only ever recorded those two tracks for Folk Review. Certainly the recordings I have are of very variable quality, from the very good one I made to the almost appalling ones that were made with little battery-operated cassette recorders. I can well understand why Brian doesn't want those in the public domain. But the fact is that they are out there, and the only real solution is to provide all the fans with some decent recordings. I am still working on it, but the trouble, as always, is time. Brian wants to put his rehearsal tapes on to the computer, but can't find the time to do it. I shall keep working on him.

Guest Jane, we were at Farningham at the same time, as I started going late 1971 and left summer 1973, by which time I was running a Sunday singaround. Fond memories.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 10 Jan 14 - 04:01 PM

Guest Jane, I think you'll find that snatch of lyric is almost certainly from Steve Ashley's 'Fire And Wine.' Very fond memories of these regular visitors to Southport's Bothy FSC decades back. They set the acapella bar high for sure, and Brian was a perfectionist in any case. btw, I have both Folk Review albums in good nick - am I a rich man then?! Obviously from this thread, ET were much-loved and remembered with affection - rightly so.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jan 14 - 04:06 PM

I put my Folk Review albums on cassette a few years ago & photocopied the notes, and sold them for a three-figure sum each to a dealer from Leeds. Regret I can't entirely recall the details.

~M~

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,David Collier
Date: 29 Aug 14 - 05:20 PM

Many fond memories of the beer and singing at College folk club in 71-4. ET were a don't miss.

David

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Aug 14 - 03:59 PM

http://www.martin-kingsbury.co.uk/articletapestrycopy.htm

http://missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/3172

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=91383

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,hillydan
Date: 21 Sep 14 - 05:52 PM

Yes! They're in my kitchen!
:-)

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,debbie merrick
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:04 AM

I know Ruth and Brian Brittain very well i was married to one of Brians sons for 19 years , i havent seen them in a couple of years but sometimes see them in tesco,s , last time i heard Ruth and Brian sing was about 15 years ago and it was stunning and i just have to say i agree they should make recordings , but i can see Brian is still the same , everything must be perfect , they are such lovely people too !

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:17 PM

unfortunately dave bryant is no longer with us.but he will undoubtedly leading the singers up above.

Subject: RE: Help: Are English Tapestry still about ?
From: GUEST,Ian W
Date: 27 Jun 15 - 01:29 PM

One of my greatest regrets is that I had to turn down the chance of singing with E.T. in the 1970s. I have still never come across such thrilling arrangements, which tended to make three voices sound like five.
Brian Brittain was reluctant to divulge his arrangements when I spoke to him some years back but "Lucy Wan" is still on my want list. I hope the scores will one day be available. Such a shame that they recorded so little. Their vinyl album must be a treasured possession somewhere.