Programme Twelve

Interview with George Hepple

This recording, which was made by Johnny Handle and Tony Wilson as part of the North East Folk Federation recording project, was made in Haltwhistle on 26th March 1973. Through the course of a lengthy interview George Hepple talks about playing dance music in that part of Northumberland. He tells us about how he learnt to play the fiddle, he talks about other musicians and he tells us about his grandfather, who learnt to clog dance from the influential 19th century musician and dancing master, Robert Whinham. This latter event giving us a direct link back through 150 years of traditional music making. George Hepple can be heard playing with Joe Hutton, Billy Atkinson and Willy Taylor, at a concert recorded in Wallsend in 1979, which can be found elsewhere on the FARNE site.