Steam locomotive 34081 "92 Squadron" leaving Alresford on The Watercress Line, September 2003. This is one of the Battle Of Britain class light pacific locos designed by Oliver Bulleid for the Southern Railway, and is one of the surviving examples still in original condition (many were rebuilt by BR in the 1950s and 60s).

This is my "favourite sound" submission for BBC Radio 4's PM programme. Even better would have been the sounds inside Alresford Signalbox late on a Sunday afternoon: the thunk of the levers in the frame, the ting-ting of block bells, the clack of a key-token being withdrawn from the instrument; from outside the shrill guard's whistle and the shout of "right away" from fireman to driver, a toot on the loco whistle followed by a whoosh of steam from the cylinder drain-cocks and then the first whoompf of exhaust from the chimney; in the background the church bells peeling before evensong. Sadly, I've not made a recording of all that (yet!)

92SqdnAlresford

Three Pressed Men perform two versions of a traditional English song tune. The instruments are two melodeons, anglo concertina, bass English concertina and a pair of Habitat soup spoons!

Recorded at a concert in Cleeve By Goring, Oxfordshire, December 2013.

Just As The Tide Was Flowing

Is this the most widely known English folk song? Three Pressed Men learned their version from a Martin Carthy LP, added a chorus at the suggestion of Dick Brooker, and worked out the harmonies themselves.

Recorded at a concert for the Aston History Group, Oxfordshire, November 2014

John Barleycorn

This carol was written to celebrate King Henry V's victory at Agincourt in 1415. The words are middle English - or are supposed to be. We've not had any coaching!

Recorded at a concert for the Aston History Group, Oxfordshire, November 2014

Agincourt Carol

Apparently, the places mentioned in this 17th centuary song are taverns, gambling dens and brothels. We think perhaps this old soldier never went much further than Dover! The tune is "Jamaica" and can be found in John Playford's Dancing Master, amongst other places.

Three Pressed Men learned this song from The City Waites. Recorded at a concert for the Aston History Group, Oxfordshire, November 2014

Jovial Broom Man

A song about the harvest gang. Versions of this were collected by Henry Hammond in Dorset and by Sabine Baring Gould in Devon and Cornwall. Three Pressed Men's version is mostly that collected by Hammond from George Roper in Blandford workhouse, with a few bits borrowed from other sources and our own harmony arrangement.

Recorded at a concert for the Aston History Group, Oxfordshire, November 2014
To see the collectors' notes, please visit The Full English database at The Vaughn Williams Memorial Library - http://www.vwml.org/search/search-full-english

All Of A Row

By crossing the river Thames ("Cassington Brook"), these poachers were crossing the county boundary between Berkshire and Oxfordshire and so, hopefully, escaping the reach of the game-keepers.

Mark learned this from The Portway Pedlars (Len and Barbara Berry) about 1990, and the arrangement has undergone many changes over the years. The words can be found in Folk Songs Of The Upper Thames, collected by Alfred Williams, whose original notes are now in Swindon Library.

The tune at the end is a morris dance, The Queen's delight, from Bucknell near Bicester in Oxfordshire.

Recorded at a concert for Aston History Group, Oxfordshire, November 2013

Eynesham Poachers

Three Pressed Men playing The Cherry Tree Carol at Cleeve-by-Goring Village Hall, 11th Dec 2013.
Ian Wheeler - vocals, concertina, spoons
Mark Fry - guitar, vocals
Dick Wolff - Hammered dulcimer

The Cherry Tree Carol

Recorded at The White Hart, Wolvercote on the outskirts of Oxford, 15th November 2016

Show Me The Way To Oxford

Three Pressed Men is a folk song band, playing at folk clubs, festivals, village halls and anywhere else that will have us. Our repertoire is mostly traditional and mostly English, but not entirely. We sing in harmony and accompany ourselves with guitar, melodeons, hammered dulcimer and lots of concertinas!

Traction is a ceilidh and barn dance band composed of Three Pressed Men and a fiddler. 

Steam Age Pictures makes videos of steam trains and sells them on DVD and Blu-ray in aid of railway preservation societies and charities.

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