Mercator the Map Man
Pete and Chris Coe
from the album "Open the Door and Let Us In" 1972
When
the O. S. posted Derek to Malvern, Worcestershire at the end of the 60s it
wasn’t long before he became a resident at the Ledbury Folk Club (as
well as continuing to be a resident at the Drover’s Arms) and became a
founder member of the Silurian Morrismen.
Silurian Morrismen
He
moved to Lancashire in 1970 to train as a teacher.
Southport Swords -mid 70's
Derek's on the left with his back to camera.
The Dicconson Arms
Having completed his teaching qualification, he became a resident of the Knowle Brow Folk Club in Skelmersdale with his teaching colleague John McAlister. Having formed as a duo at this club, Derek and John moved on to found the, now legendary, Dicconson Arms Folk Club at the aptly named Dangerous Corner, Wrightington. During the late 70s and early 80s this Friday night club became one of the foremost folk venues in the North-West, hosting national guest appearances. Many were people not so well known in the area at the time such as Johnny Collins, Roy Harris, Isobel Sutherland and Dick Miles.
It was also at this time that John Meadows, a mandolin player, guitarist and singer, joined Derek and John ‘Mac’ to form the group ‘Titanic‘. They worked all over the north for a while, later continuing as a duo when John ‘Mac’ left the group due to family commitments.
John McAlister
Leyland Morris Men - 1890s
As
is often the case, the brewery decided that the folk club room at the
Dicconson was to become a restaurant and the club had to go!
Unfortunately, ‘Titanic’ went down with it!
Mark Dowding
After
a break of about 12 months and a house move to Mawdesley, Derek opened the
Yarrow Valley Folk Club with some of the residents from the Dicconson Arms
including Mark Dowding who, from his initial appearances at the Dicconson,
has now become a well known performer in his own right. The new club
started at The Black Bull, Mawdesley and then moved to The Grapes in
Croston. Although this club had some memorable nights with top line
artists such as The MacCalmans and the Wilson Family it began to decline
and the club closed. This, at least, gave Derek more time to concentrate
on developing his, now national, reputation as a solo artist. This also
meant that his morris dancing days were numbered!
Derek completed his first ‘on the road’ tour in the north-east during the Autumn half-term holiday in 1981. His school holidays gave him opportunities for both touring and making new friends in the folk clubs around the country. It also gave him time to do some birding in the areas he visited!
Derek doing some birding
At
about this time Derek met Bury poet Keith Scowcroft. Derek has set many of
Keith’s poems to music and the cassette ‘When All Men Sing’ was
released in 1989 through Fellside. This was a collection of 11 Scowcroft/Gifford
compositions. The title song has
become something of a folk ‘standard’ having been recorded by a number
of well known national artists and is being sung across the world much to
the delight of both Derek and ’Scowie’! Pleasingly other songs in the
repertoire have also been taken up by others. A few years ago at the
National Folk Festival someone entered the Traditional Singers’
competition with the Walling Song announcing it as traditional. Thus Derek
and Scowie now rank among the best ‘traditional’ song writers!
Chris Harvey (Top) in his role with the
"Mrs Ackroyd Band"
Customers demanding "When All Men Sing + 4"!
The Millennium saw Derek developing new projects and, in 2001, he became a guitar tutor and Board member of Folkus, the folk arts organisation of the North-West chaired by Alan Bell. As a result he has developed guitar courses for beginner and intermediate standard players. He continues to tutor for Folkus on a regular basis.
Early in the Millennium Derek also joined forces with Geoff Higginbottom and Keith Kendrick to form the group ‘Three Sheets to the Wind’ specialising (obviously!) in maritime material. Although they can’t perform together as often as they’d like due to their other commitments in the music scene, they can be seen from time to time at various clubs and festivals throughout the country. They have released a CD “All ‘Tide’ Up” (pun intended!) which has been a hit among shanty aficionados.
Over the last few years Derek has gone back into schools (voluntarily!) to teach multi-cultural folk song specialising in calypso and Antipodean songs and to teach the pupils about our traditional sea songs and shanties.
Derek’s recording, ‘Sunny Corners’, was issued in 2005 and contains a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs mostly land based.
Apart from enjoying music in general, Derek’s other great interest is bird-watching (or ‘birding’) and he has developed three shows called ‘Birds in Folk Song’, ‘More Birds in Folk Song’ and 'Even More Birds in Folk Song' which combine his two major interests. These have been popular with both wildlife groups and folk audiences. As a result in 2006 he brought out a compilation CD from his previous recordings featuring the songs performed in the shows. This is called, appropriately, ‘Birds in Folk Song’ and makes a pleasant memento of the shows.
Because of his teaching background Derek finds it relatively easy to adapt to different types of audiences and is able to take the music out to groups other than those primarily involved with folk music. He does this through these talks and shows which include ‘A Brief History of Sea Songs’, ‘British Sea Shanties’ and ‘The Natural History of Folk Song’. He’s even written a workshop on his other instrument, the bowed psaltery.
Derek's latest recording is from the Wild Goose Recording Studio and is entitled "Songs From The Past...Into The Future. Details of this and all of Derek's recordings can be found under the "Recordings" link at the top of this page.
Whether accompanying himself on guitar or bowed psaltery or singing unaccompanied Derek’s enthusiasm becomes contagious. Relaxed and confident, with chorus songs a speciality, Derek’s humorous approach will soon have any audience singing along.
