LINKS

 

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Links to Other Relevant Sites of Interest

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Music CV

 

Who is This Man?

 

Traditional Idiom

 

Bedfordshire Song

 

Stories in The Songs

 

Products

 

Bibliography

 

 

 

 

 

Ø My Facebook Site

 

Networking

 

Where to find me on Facebook

 

 

Ø My Myspace Page

 

 

 

Where to find me on Myspace

 

 

Ø Life And Times

 

Song

 

Song duo comprising Graeme Meek & Barry Goodman who perform traditional idiom songs and music primarily with Bedfordshire and Industrial Revolution themes.

 

 

 

Ø Life And Times for Schools

 

 

 

The website for Life & Times’ KS1 & KS2 shows for primary schools. If you want a new way of looking at history and tradition which involves the children dressing up and  role playing; singing, music and dance, try this site for details.

 

 

 

Ø Life And Times on Myspace

 

 

 

Life and Times’ page on the popular Myspace server. 4 tracks from the CD Charivari will play in random order and one is downloadable.

 

 

 

Ø Life And Times on YouTube

 

 

 

Several Life & Times songs with slide shows or video.

 

 

 

Ø Life And Times on Facebook

 

 

 

Where to find Life & Times on Facebook

 

 

Ø Canal Songs

 

 

 

This canal song website lists several of Graeme’s canal songs with links within the site to the words and music.

 

 

 

Ø Time Of Your Life

 

Dance

 

E-ceilidh band founded by Barry Goodman & Graeme Meek who have performed from Herefordshire to Norfolk, Yorkshire to Kent

 

 

 

Ø Time of Your Life on Myspace

 

 

 

Time of Your Life’s page on the popular Myspace server. Stated in 2007, 4 tracks from the CD A Select Few will play in random order and one is downloadable.

 

 

 

Ø British Library Sound Archive

 

Archives

 

See Life & Times’ entries in the British Library Sound Archive. Select Sound Archive then enter life and times and name in the search boxes. Charivari seems to be listed in a different way. Go to the search page again and type in charivari and select title. You will find it listed there (about No.12 or 13) and the details can be accessed from that page.

 

 

 

Ø Chiltern Open Air Museum

 

Museums

 

Life and Times’ seek to preserve something of the region’s heritage through music. The Chiltern Open Air Museum seeks to preserve some of the region’s buildings, crafts etc. At least one of the buildings reconstructed on the museum’s site comes from Bedfordshire.

 

 

 

Ø The Ironbridge Gorge Museum

 

 

 

A museum of the Industrial Revolution primarily as seen

from the angle of the iron industry. Coalbrookdale is

often called ‘The Cradle of Industry’ and was the inspiration for Life & Times’ music which appears on the recording ‘Shropshire Iron’ – Fellside FE071.

 

 

 

Ø Luton Museum & Art Gallery

 

 

 

Luton Museum, in Wardown Park, published the original book of songs from ‘Strawplait & Bonelace’ – Fellside FE043. The staff were very helpful in my initial research and the museum also hosted a performance to launch the LP of Strawplait & Bonelace in 1985. There is a second site in Stockwood Park at the southern end of the town and this includes the impressive ‘Mossman Carriage Collection’ that features original and replica carriages and coaches, many of which have appeared in major films over the years.

 

 

 

Ø Bedford Museum

 

 

 

Another important museum of Bedfordshire history

where Life & Times performed in 2001, 2002 & 2003.

 

 

 

Ø Priory House Heritage Centre

 

 

 

A small museum of Dunstable History based in High Street South.

 

 

 

Ø Leighton Linslade Virtual Museum

 

 

 

Here’s an interesting idea! The town’s museum is all on-line. Give it a try.

 

 

 

Ø The Sand Museum

 

 

 

This is the virtual museum website developed after the Greensand Trust’s ‘Sands Of Time’ oral history project about the sand industry of Leighton Buzzard. Two of my songs can be heard on this website.

 

 

 

Ø Forest of Marston Vale

 

Conservation

 

The Forest of Marston Vale is a project to plant a forest

for the community in mid-Bedfordshire on reclaimed brickworks land. They celebrated their 10th anniversary

in 2001 and I wrote the song ‘Marston Vale’ to mark the

event. Beyond the forest itself, the organisation is also running a valuable oral history project in the locality and provides lectures, entertainment and exhibitions at the

Forest Centre.

 

 

 

Ø The Greensand Trust

 

 

 

Conservation for the Greensand Ridge and wider surrounding area.

 

 

 

Ø The Chiltern Society

 

 

 

An organisation that looks after the area of outstanding natural beauty that is the Chiltern Hills.

 

 

 

Ø The Bedfordshire Clanger

 

Films

 

A site dedicated to Five Feet Films’ short film: ‘The Bedfordshire Clanger’. The film features by the same name: my song, the tune by Taz Tarry and its accompanying dance by Redbornstoke Morris, the beer by Banks & Taylor of Shefford and the local delicacy which started it all. Listen to the music in full at the site. See clips on YouTube here.

 

 

 

Ø Hitchin Folk Club

 

Clubs

 

A club founded in the mid 1960s, Hitchin is one of the longest established clubs in the country and goes from strength to strength. Life and Times became resident performers there from the mid 1990s. The club won the 2005 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards ‘Best Folk Club’ category

 

 

 

Ø Bedfordshire County Life Magazine

 

Magazines

 

A local county magazine which has printed my songs and accompanying articles since 1999.

 

 

 

Ø Discover

 

 

 

A magazine devoted to interesting things about the county of Bedfordshire and Luton. On its front cover it states ‘Lifestyle, Leisure, Business for Visitors to Bedfordshire & Locals Who Want More’.

 

 

 

Ø Unicorn Magazine

 

 

 

The local folk magazine for Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire etc. that has printed large numbers of my songs over the years.

 

 

 

Ø Folk & Roots (Web Based Folk Magazine)

 

 

 

This link takes you straight to the page with the review of Life & Times’ CD ‘Charivari’.

 

 

 

Ø Folking (Web Based Folk Magazine)

 

 

 

This site runs reviews, is a download site for MP3s, plays music etc. In addition there is a list of folk performers including myself , Life & Times & Time of Your Life.

 

 

 

Ø Redbornstoke Morris

 

Morris

 

This is the local Morris side based at Ampthill. Their escapades appear in several Life & Times songs (Toddington Tour, Plough Monday Song, Ampthill Sunrise, All In The Wintertime) and they perform a dangerous stick-hurling dance to my tune ‘One Man’s Morris’. This dance is also performed by Sarum Morris of Salisbury.

 

 

 

Ø Bedfordshire Lace Ladies’ Morris

 

 

 

This is the local ladies’ morris side with links to Redbornstoke Morris. They are also based in Ampthill.

 

 

 

Ø Fellside Recordings

 

Recordings

 

Life & Times recorded two LPs with this successful Cumbrian-based folk label:

* Strawplait & BonelaceFellside FE043 – 1985

* Shropshire Iron – Fellside FE071 – 1989

 

 

 

Ø Wixamtree Recordings

 

 

 

Life & Times’ own label, the name is taken from Bedfordshire’s Wixamtree Hundred. The Life & Times CDs below appear on this label:

·         Charivari – Wixamtree WIX051 – 2001

·         Where The Working Boats Went –

                                 Wixamtree WIX 052 - 2009

(sorry, no link available at the moment)

 

 

 

Ø John Kirkpatrick

 

Other Singers of my Songs

 

John Kirkpatrick is one of the folk scene’s best known and most revered performers. Singer and squeeze-box player supreme, he lists among his credits, membership of Brass Monkey and Steeleye Span. John sang one of my Shropshire Iron songs, ‘The Bridge of Iron’, at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum in 1999.

 

 

Ø Carolyn Robson

 

 

 

Carolyn is a respected singer of songs from the tradition and the traditional idiom and is the former Education Officer of the EFDSS. She saw one of my songs displayed on the wall of The George Inn at Silsoe in Bedfordshire and contacted me to see if I would be happy if she sang it. I am very happy that she does. ‘The Ghost of Lady de Grey’ has found a wider audience because of this. She has since recorded the song on her CD ‘Dawn Chorus’ and it is available on Reiver Records RVRCD03. You can hear the song on her website.

 

 

 

Ø Out and About With John Pilgrim

 

Local Radio

 

John Pilgrim’s BBC 3 Counties radio programme website has lots of local interest including a link to the Life & Times website.

 

 

 

Ø Where to Go in Bedfordshire

 

Tourism

 

A site dedicated to interesting places to visit in Bedfordshire, countryside walks in the county etc.

 

 

 

Ø The Chilterns Gateway Centre

 

 

 

This is the name for Dunstable Downs Visitor Centre, opened in 2007, which is a huge glass building with very ‘green’ credentials. Its enormous expanse of glass ensures spectacular panoramic views of the countryside around throughout the year. Its café also sells Bedfordshire Clangers!

 

 

 

Ø Bibliography

 

Bibliography

 

For those interested, this is a list of some of the books I have used in my research on the subject of Bedfordshire history, legends and customs and Shropshire history. The list is not exhaustive but just contains those readily to hand when the page was compiled. A good many others were borrowed from Bedfordshire libraries.

 

 

 

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                             Graeme Meek