Harry Boardman (1930–1987) was an English

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

who was born in

Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He sang both unaccompanied and accompanying himself on the

Anglo concertina The Anglo or Anglo-German concertina is a member of the concertina family of free-reed instruments. History The Anglo originated as a hybrid between the English and German concertinas. The button layouts are generally the same as the original 2 ...

or banjo. "Boardman has specialised in the lore, songs and dialect poems of his native Lancashire. A fine singer, his recorded and printed work has done much to preserve the otherwise ignored aspects of his local tradition."—Fred Woods. He was active as a folk singer and collector of Lancashire folklore from the late 1950s with some collaboration from his wife Lesley. In 1991 the Harry Boardman Memorial Trust was established to increase public awareness of traditional music and related arts, including the folk music of the British Isles and local traditions of North West England. Harry appeared regularly, together with Dave Hillery and Terry Whelan at the Wayfarer's Folk Club, at various locations, including the Pack Horse Hotel in Bridge Street, Manchester from the late 1950s. Boardman was a folk club organiser from 1954 until the year he died; the home of his club in the 1970s and 1980s was the Unicorn Hotel in Church Street, Manchester. His interest in the songs of working folk came from his socialist beliefs. Manchester 12-14 Church Street 0541

Publications

*''Folk Songs & Ballads of Lancashire''; compiled and edited by Harry & Lesley Boardman. London & New York: Oak Publications, 1973 *''Manchester Ballads: thirty-five facsimile street ballads''; selected and edited by Harry Boardman & Roy Palmer. Manchester: City of Manchester Education Committee, 1983

Discography

Boardman's recordings: *''A Lancashire Mon'', Topic Records (1973) *''The Bonnie Pit Laddie'', Topic Records (1975) (with The High Level Ranters and

Dick Gaughan Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...

) *''Golden Stream'', AK Records (1978) *''Personal Selection'' (1986) *''Personal Choice'', Cock Robin Music (2008)

Compilations

*''New Voices'' (with the Watersons &

Maureen Craik Maureen is a female given name. In Gaelic, it is Máirín, a pet form of ''Máire'' (the Irish cognate of Mary), which is derived from the Hebrew Miriam. The name has sometimes been regarded as corresponding to the male given name Maurice. Some ...

), Topic Records (1965) *''Deep Lancashire'' (with the

Oldham Tinkers Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

et al.), Topic Records (1968; 1997) *''Owdham Edge'' (with the Oldham Tinkers et al.), Topic Records (1970) *''Trans Pennine'' (with Dave Hillery), Topic Records (1971) *''Steam Ballads'' (with Jon Raven et al.), Broadside (1977) *''

The Iron Muse : ''A book of poetry of the same name by John Curtis Underwood was published in 1910 by G. P. Putnam's Sons as The Knickerbocker Press.'' ''The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Song)'' is the title of two albums released by Topic Records, ...

'' (with

Louis Killen Louisa "Lou" Jo Killen (born Louis Killen; 10 January 1934 – 9 August 2013) was an English folk singer from Gateshead, Tyneside, who also played the English concertina. Killen formed one of United Kingdom, Britain's first folk clubs in 1958 in ...

et al.), Topic Records (1993) :: Only features on the CD version * ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper ...

'' Topic Records (2009) ::''The Hand Loom Weaver's Lament'' from ''Deep Lancashire'' is track ten on the sixth CD.

References

External links

Harry Boardman documentary; memories please
Mudcat Café
Terry Whelan
Mudcat Café 1930 births 1986 deaths English folk singers People from Failsworth 20th-century English singers Topic Records artists Musicians from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham {{England-singer-stub