The Parson & the Songmen
The Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was an exceptional parson and squire from Devonshire, England.
He is probably best remembered as the composer of the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
Born in Exeter in 1834, he died at his estate, Lewtrenchard Manor in West Devon, in 1924.
As 2024 is the centenary of his death it gives me the opportunity to spotlight what he considered to be the most important achievement of his life, that of collecting the old folk songs of Devonshire, and later Cornwall, as he termed it, 'from the mouths of the people'.
Join me as I tell stories about, and sing songs from, this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire seeking out songs that now form a major part of the English folk song tradition.
The Parson & the Songmen
S3 10 One Day In October
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.
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/