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THE GARDINER APPRECIATION GROUP, now known as the Hampshire Songs Group was founded by Bob Askew and Paul Hawkins who have done much in recent years to champion the work of George Gardiner. The group currently has twenty members, including several well known faces on the current local and national folk scene, who meet up on an occasional basis.
Founder member Bob Askew has given illustrated talks on Gardiner's collecting and Hampshire songs in local venues and at Sidmouth Folk Festival, Gosport and Fareham Folk Festival and Cecil Sharp House, as part of the recent Take6 project.
Working with his daughters Emily and Hazel Askew and CMR, Moira Craig, Sarah Morgan and Carolyn Robson, Bob has helped put together shows and concerts showcasing Gardiner's work and Hampshire songs.
The most recent series of concerts is "The Axford Five" featuring the songs collected from five women singers in Preston Candover and the surrounding villages.
Craig, Morgan Robson combined with The Askew Sisters in a show consisting of traditional songs collected from Sarah Goodyear, Marty Munday, Elizabeth Randall, Charlotte Hall and Emma Hopkins, linked with narrative.
The show premiered in Preston Candover village hall in March this year, where it was supplemented by a display of old photographs of the village and some of the singers, from Hampshire Record Office's Archives. Since then the show has been put on a several viilage halls and folk festivals.
Craig; Morgan; Robson and The Askew Sisters were part of the Take6 Concert which was held in Cecil Sharp House on 27th June 2009. The concert featured songs from each of the collectors: Janet Blunt, George Butterworth, Frank Collinson, George Gardiner, Anne Gilchrist and The Hammond Brothers. Well-known and well-loved standards of the English repertoire were performed alongside some of the hidden gems gleaned from the thousands of items in the archive.
A pre-concert talk on George Gardiner was given by Bob Askew and the launch of The Axford Project CD by Craig; Morgan; Robson and The Askew Sisters also took place on the day.
Gardiner Appreciation Group Links
Bob has put up a website for the Gardiner Appreciation Group which will have more information and details of events, etc. To visit the site click here.
To read the Gardiner page on the SCoFF website click here:
To read a transcript of Bob Askew's Talk on Gardiner's collecting in Southampton click here:
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