Folk Aid For Famine - (Entire Show)

Folk Aid for Famine was a charity event that took place in Burntwood, Staffordshire on July 4th, 1986. Its goal was to raise money to help combat the famine in Ethiopia, it was inspired by the world famous and similarly named Live Aid concert which famously took part the year before in 1985. This Staffordshire take on the charity even was conceived and organised by local folk artist Pip Souster, who himself makes an appearance in the show. The collection of artists who took part is a fantastic cross section of the Staffordshire Folk Scene at the time, though should not be confused for being every artist or group who was active during this period.

The compere duties for this show were spit between Keith Bradbury (of Tackeroo Junction Fame) and Lauri Ward, the husband of folk singer Jean Ward who is also featured. Lauri was a legend of the scene in his own right, having acted as compere for many years at the Hazelslade Folk Club as well as the Barrels Folk Club at the Talbot in Heath Hayes.

This recording was made on VHS on the night, recorded on one of those special E-240 tapes as the show was so grand in scale. Though some of these VHS tapes survive none I have found have been of excellent quality. This copy was transferred to DVD many years ago and was in the possession of Nancy Juniper, a friend of Jean Ward who has a long history following the local folk scene, she has kindly provided me this copy and Pip Souster has given me permission to upload it.

Neither the recording or the transfer are what you would call DVD quality, there are numerous small jumps in the footage throughout as well as other occasional audio and video issues. However, the entire show is still very enjoyable to watch and hopefully if you´re watching this because you were there, this will trigger a healthy amount of nostalgia, if like me you're interested in the folk scene academically, I hope you will appreciate what a fantastic resource this is.

Artist Appearances:
00:00:00 - Opening
00:01:53 - Malcolm Stent
00:30:04 - Bryn Hiscox
00:45:15 - Graham Onions & Friends (Syzygy)
01:04:00 - Martin Ryan
01:15:55 - Rosy Hardman
01:37:25 - Mick Hipkiss
01:51:00 - Jane & Lesley Celic
02:03:15 - Tackeroo Junction
02:16:30 - Bill Caddick
02:36:40 - Jean Ward (& Chris Toe)
02:53:25 - Pip Souster
03:05:40 - Steve Ashcroft & Theresa/ Dave Williscroft
03:29:35 - Sean Cannon
03:49:40 - Finale

Show Credits:
Folk Aid arranged by Pip Souster
Compere duties shared by Keith Bradbury and Lauri Ward
Produced by Peter English
Directed by Alfred Pigler
Recording Engineer was John Carver
Posters by Paul Hathaway

Folk Aid for Famine took place July 4th, 1986 in Burntwood, Staffordshire.

NOTE: If you can correct or provide additional information to anything I have mentioned here, or about any of the artists featured please get in touch!

Видео Folk Aid For Famine - (Entire Show) канала Staffordshire Folksong Archive