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In this episode of The Parson and the Songmen we join Mike at Ashwater Church, in the far west of Devon, for a day of 'ringing and singing'.

One Day In October are the first four words of a very special song that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould collected, telling of a bell ringing competition that took place at Ashwater church some two hundred years ago.

For the last two years this event has been remembered in the form of a day centred around bell ringing, organised by Jon Bint, Vice-Chair of the Devon Association of Ringers and Marilyn Tucker from Devon-Based Wren Music.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

Devon Association of Ringers: https://www.devonbells.co.uk/

Wren Music: https://www.wrenmusic.co.uk/

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The poet John Keats called Autumn the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'. A time for reflection and also a time when 'all is safely gathered in' before the onset of winter.

Those words, of course, come from the harvest hymn We Plough The Fields And Scatter, and in this episode of The Parson And The Songmen we discover the origins of what we know as The Harvest Festival church service and find out more about the man behind its creation - Robert Stephen Hawker, the Vicar of Morwenstow in North Cornwall. Hawker was known to The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould who saw something of himself in this larger than life, multi-talented, eccentric figure.

So, let's join Mike, in conversation with local historian and Hawker enthusiast, Matt Thomas, Outreach Officer at the Castle Heritage Centre, Bude.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

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'Catch Me If You Can' is the title of a cassette tape, (originally released in 1978 and please search the interweb if you're too young to know what a cassette tape is) released by Pete Coe who spent a week in the company of a Cornish travelling family, recording songs and stories about their way of life in the early 1900s.

Mike has known Pete since the 1960s in Birmingham where they both sang at The Black Diamond Folk Club, held in the Drovers Arms. Pete went on to become, as described by BBC Radio 2, A 'One-Man Folk Industry' and is still sought out by major folk-festivals in Britain to appear to this day.

This podcast focuses on the reissue, this year, of 'Catch Me If You Can' on CD and features a reunion between Mike and Pete at Dartmoor Folk Festival as well as some amazing soundbites from the family about their life on the road.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

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Hello and welcome back after our summer break!

In this episode we focus on William Andrews, a shy farmer from Sheepstor, in a remote part of Dartmoor, Devon. Andrews was not only a farmer though, he was a skilled fiddle player, and was visited by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould in order to note down some of his tunes that would become known in time as The William Andrews Collection.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

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Join Mike for a very special 'Parson and the Songmen' this time around! It's not every day that you happen to get to the chance to have a chat with one of the world's leading mandolinists, composers and all round wit, but this is just what Mike did recently when he met up with Simon Mayor.

Taken from Simon Mayor's biog on his website mandolin.co.uk Please visit for info on all of his work, gigs, workshops, projects, CDs etc

'As well as being an incredible mandolin player, Simon is a fine fiddle player, guitarist, composer, poet and wit. Whether with long-time partner Hilary James or his group The Mandolinquents, his live performances blend dazzling musicianship with poetry both poignant and playful, and a ready supply of humorous anecdotes and off-the-cuff wit. His stages have ranged from primary schools to classical, folk and literature festivals worldwide, and as featured mandolin soloist at orchestral concerts'.

So, sit back, make yourself comfy, and join Mike and Simon now in this latest episode of 'The Parson and the Songmen'.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

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In this fifth episode of the third series of The Parson and the Songmen, Mike explores Sabine's second autobiography 'Further Reminiscences'. In the book he discovers a song that seems to have , astonishingly, escaped Baring-Gould's keen censorship in order to make his song collection, as he put it, 'fit for Christian ears to hear!'

If the song had been through 'the cleansing process', then did the Reverend Gentleman think it was a fair reflection of society, or was it, indeed, just overlooked?

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

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Firstly, Many Happy Returns to The Parson And The Songmen as it celebrates its Second Birthday with its Fiftieth Episode!

In this special episode Mike tells the story of how a song collected by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould made it into the British pop charts and peaked at No.3 no less!! What the Reverend Gentleman would have thought of Elvis (No.1), The Drifters (No.2) and Cliff Richard (No.4) who surrounded him at the top of the chart we will never know, but I bet he would have been chuffed that one of 'his songs' had reached such a huge audience.

Well, here's to the next fifty episodes of The Parson and the Songmen.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/

Send us a text

The songs published in Songs From The West by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould were wholly collected, or particular to, Devon and Cornwall. But what to do with the songs sent to him from other parts of England and beyond?

Sabine never discarded these songs, but put them to one side as they were of interest and too good to be lost and these resulted in a new publication

Join Mike now as he tells the story of how this book came into being, which The Reverend Gentleman titled 'A Garland Of Country Song'.

Support the show

Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk

Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk

Follow Mike on: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/

Mike's YouTube page for Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould songs:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos

Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group - 1924 to 2024: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/

Simon Mayor, ace mandolinist: mandolin.co.uk

Mike O'Connor, musicologist and musician: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/

Barbara Griggs, Cornish-based Harpist: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857

Pete Coe, One Man Folk Industry: https://petecoe.co.uk/

Matt Thomas, local historian and Hawker Enthusiast - Outreach Officer, Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/