Descriptions of activities and policies
We are asking again for members to volunteer to present their research on traditional song. These do not have to be finished projects or polished presentations. If you have an idea, completed or work in progress, please get in touch with Richard Spencer at towerofsark@gmail.com.
We are launching a major project to document and preserve the research and collection activity of the post-war generation, starting with recording interviews with major researchers, collectors and traditional singers. The recordings will be transcribed and made available to current and future researchers. If anyone has any recordings that they would be willing to share … Read more
The Open University has announced that our Chair, Steve Roud, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate ‘in recognition of his exceptional contribution to education and culture’. The award will be presented in Birmingham in October—many congratulations on this well-deserved honour.
Data Protection Policy [Revised 7 Jan 2025]
The aims of the Forum are: The Forum recognises the inherent kinship of the song traditions of all the constituent countries and regions of Britain and Ireland and is therefore concerned with all of them, and also with those countries whose traditions have strong cultural links with them. The traditions of particular areas may need … Read more
We have had another highly successful year. In terms of physical meetings, we have travelled hither and yon – the Broadside Day conference was at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, our regular TSF meetings were in Ely in Cambridgeshire, and Belfast in Northern Ireland, and we had an excellent two-day event specifically devoted to the musical … Read more
Plans for events in 2020 are coming along nicely. Our first meeting of the year will be held on 25 April 2020 in Swindon, on the doorstep of the Great Western Railway Works where Alfred Williams operated a steam hammer, and which was the centre for his forays around the Upper Thames Valley. Williams will, … Read more
This has been another good year for the Traditional Song Forum. We have weathered the storm of GDPR, and the loss of members that we had as a result has been more than made up by the number of new people who have signed up since. This has been helped by the decision to stop … Read more
Early in 2018 we ended the practice of asking for an annual subscription for the Traditional Song Forum and opened the membership to anyone who wished to join and support the aims of the organisation. At that time, we said that we would create an associated voluntary organisation, The Friends of the Traditional Song Forum, … Read more