Blaxhall Ship has a long association with traditional music, one that continues to this day. As
such it has gained iconic status in this region, and deservedly so. In truth, though, in the early and middle years of last century it was probably no busier in this respect than many other
Suffolk hostelries such as Butley Oyster, Snape Crown and Eastbridge Eel’s Foot, to name a
few where recordings were made (1), or for that matter Sutton Windmill in Norfolk.(2) A great many East Anglian pubs are remembered as ‘singing pubs’, and presumably this was the case all over rural and urban Britain in the days when such activity was commonplace. Be that as it may, The Ship has received much attention from collectors over the decades (3), giving us a vivid picture of what went on in the place.
The record under review brings us to 1973, a time when the company in the pub had become somewhat different from previous decades. The Folk Revival flourishing at this time, there was much interest in the older traditional music and many such recordings were being issued, including of several singers included here. (4). Not all of these would have been released by the time this session was recorded, but some performers were becoming well-known as tradition bearers. What we have here then, in The Larks They Sang Melodious, is a recording of a night – Friday, 16th November, 1973 – when the older locals were rubbing shoulders with denizens of nearby Leiston Folk Club and other interested ‘revivalists’. A period of transition perhaps, and very different from the recordings made by Peter Kennedy in the 1950s and Neil Lanham in the early 1960s. (5) The recording was made by Karl Dallas and Adam Skeaping, with all but one track the only ‘take’ (the exception being when the tape ran out). I don’t propose to compare this disc with the recent recording made for the 50th anniversary, which I have to admit I haven’t yet heard – another time perhaps! – but rather just to have a look at what was on offer in 1973, at the time of a musical situation in transition.
The record kicks off with a faded-in track of Tony Hall singing Donkey Riding. I’m not sure this was the wisest choice – it’s a rather underwhelming start, although the track does get going eventually, and this is not to denigrate Tony’s performance, lively as it is. What follows is a selection from the old boys – Cyril Poacher, Bob Hart, Percy Webb, Percy Ling, Geoff Ling and Bob Scarce – interspersed with the younger singers Tony Hall, Bill Horne, Rosemary Bisset, Vic Harrup and Linda Walker. It’s interesting to note that all of the material by the younger singers is staunchly traditional, whereas that by the older ones varies from traditional to more recent music hall, sentimental and popular (of sometime ago) songs, a fair reflection of the mix of material they chose to perform. The subtitle of the LP is accurate enough: there are only two brief instrumental tracks, Fred List’s Pigeon on the Gate and Steve Pallant’s The Foggy Dew, and sadly no step dancing, despite the former tune being a stalwart to accompany it.
Cyril Poacher gives us his favourite The Nutting Girl and later Slap-Dab, from the music hall, in his usual confident and somewhat droll delivery. Bob Hart is featured with the sentimental White Wings, and Percy Ling with I’ll Come Back My Little Sweetheart, of similar sentiment. Both are assured performances, as are Geoff Ling’s very declamatory Maggie May and Among My Souvenirs. He also gives us a fine Green Bushes. Men comfortable with material they have performed countless times in such surroundings. The same could be said for Percy Webb’s chuckle-raiser The Master’s Servant, a much-loved ribald piece that crops up a lot in East Anglia. Finally from amongst the old boys there are two performances from Bob Scarce, born in 1885, the last ones from him, as he died shortly after the recordings were made, and before the record was released. He gives us the title song (which had to be recorded twice, as the tape ran out) and the sentimental A Boy’s Best Friend is His Mother. Of Bob Scarce’s style, Karl Dallas in the booklet notes, comments: “Though his breath was clearly failing, he was a fine singer nevertheless…Bob’s tonality is unconventional by modern standards…but it is consistent. We ran out of tape the first time he sang the song and when he recorded it again later the same evening I found he was singing it in exactly the same key as before: his pitching was that accurate.” In all, a solid and representative selection from these seasoned old gents, as might be expected, given their experience and the familiarity of the surroundings.
So, what of “the folkies, traddies, clubbies, call ‘em what you will”, of Karl Dallas’ description,
who make up the rest? Just about all were local and many were regulars at the Everyman Folk Club in Leiston. Bill Horne gives us an assured, guitar-accompanied All For Me Grog, pretty much as The Dubliners recorded it, and Vic Harrap The Rigs of the Time, a version of which, as the booklet notes point out, was collected in Norfolk, from ‘Charger’ Salmons in Sutton Windmill. 6) The aforementioned Tony Hall gives us Donkey Riding and Bungay Roger, in his inimitable way and to his own melodeon accompaniment, which in itself is very different from the styles of the older players, such as Fred List, included here. (The same could be said of Steve Pallant and his The Foggy Dew). Finally there are two very effective performances from female singers, Rosemary Bisset with The Bold Dragoon and Linda Walker with Sweet Primroses. Solid fare all round from a typical folk club evening, from some talented performers.
All seems to have run along smoothly, the old and the newer, held together by chairman Clive Woolnough, a “27-year-old bricklayer who lives in a council house in nearby Chillesford.” As a listening experience, I am not fully convinced that it all sits completely comfortably together, although the different styles are not really that jarring. On first listening I was inclined to dismiss it as evidence of a decaying tradition, diluted to an extent, and perhaps only really noteworthy for including the last recordings of Bob Scarce, but subsequent listenings have induced me to revise that opinion somewhat. There have been fewer and fewer occasions when the ‘tradition’ has been continuing – with whatever loose definition serves that term – but it carried on, and endures still to an extent. Undoubtedly the old boys appreciated the attention bestowed on them by the younger performers and enthusiasts, in what appear to be very good-natured evenings. Karl Dallas makes the interesting point in the LP notes: “An interesting thing about The Ship, however, is the way in which a new generation of ‘revival’ singers (are) more consciously aware of their traditions than the ‘old boys’ of the pub” and that the younger singers are “more deliberately using folk music as a means of striking down new roots.” Much of the material on this disc supports that observation.
Space precludes a discussion about the extent to which folk clubs have veered away from the ‘tradition’ in general, as the music becomes divorced from its original roots, community and purpose. Suffice to say that what we have with The Larks They Sang Melodious is an interesting aural ‘snapshot’ of a time when there were still enough older generation traditional singers in the environs of Blaxhall Ship to constitute singing company enough to produce such a recording, as well as a number of enthusiastic and talented ‘revivalists’, embracing the tradition from ‘outside’, who were very keen to perform alongside the old boys in an evening of conviviality.
Chris Holderness, March 2026
NOTES
- Neil Lanham’s recordings: Songs From the Company of the Butley Oyster (NLCD3) and
Songs From the Singing Tradition of Snape Crown (no number) – both: The Helions
Bumpstead Gramophone Company. Also Good Order! Traditional Singing and Music
from The Eel’s Foot (Veteran VT140CD) – 1930s/40s recordings - East Anglia Sings (Snatch’d From Oblivion SFO 005) – BBC recordings from Eastbridge
Eel’s Foot and Sutton Windmill, 1947 - Saturday Night in a Suffolk Pub (Folktrax 036) – Peter Kennedy’s recordings, 1953; The
Barley Mow (Topic TSCD676D) – includes Peter Kennedy’s film of The Ship; Songs From
the Idiom of the People of Blaxhall – Neil Lanham’s 1960s recordings; The Helions
Bumpstead Gramophone Company (no number) - Bob Hart: Songs from Suffolk (Topic 12TS252) 1973; Various: Flash Company (Topic
12TS243) 1974 – includes Bob Hart and Percy Webb; Cyril Poacher: The Broomfield
Wager (Topic 12TS252); The Ling Family: The Singing Tradition of a Suffolk Family
(Topic 12TS292) 1977 – slightly later recordings by Keith Summers - As No 3, above
- Included on No 2, above