Wurzelmania!

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Wurzelmania! News Archive 2005

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This is the archive of news items from the Wurzelmania! website for the year 2005.

Wurzel's cancer battle (Thursday 3rd November 2005)

WURZELS star Tommy Banner vowed this week he would win a battle with prostate cancer.

Tommy, who lives in Taunton, said he was determined to beat the illness and be back on stage as soon as possible after Christmas following an operation he is set to undergo in Bristol today (Thursday).

[From the Somerset County Gazette archive]

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Folk Hero Letter Found In Archive (Tuesday 25th January, 2005)

The Swindon Folk Singers Club archive details the history of the club, one of the most important in the region, from its foundation in 1960 to the present day. The club, founded by Ted and Ivy Poole, grew out of the folk protest and peace movement of the 1950s and 1960s, starting out in a cellar beneath the Communist Party's Swindon branch in Bridge Street.

The archive...contains a 1966 letter from Adge Cutler, whose backing band was The Wurzels. Adge sadly died in 1974, but The Wurzels continued to enjoy chart success with songs such as 'I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester'.

In his letter, Adge says: "I sing all West Country songs, usually unaccompanied although I can provide accompaniment if required."

He refers to a number of 'West Country songs' in the letter, including 'The Champion Dung Spreader' and 'Drink Up Thy Cider George'.

Wiltshire County Council archivist Steve Hobbs said: "It is rare to find such a comprehensive archive from a provincial folk club. The archive is a fascinating piece of social history, which shows the links between folk music and protest. For example, the club staged benefits for both CND and the Support the Miners campaign in the 1980s. There are also some very interesting individual items, such as the letters from Paul Simon and Adge Cutler."

He added: "Swindon, along with Cardiff and Plymouth, was one of the first three folk clubs to be set up in the south west of the country."

The archive can be seen at the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office in Trowbridge. Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office.

[Edited from the Press Release released by Wiltshire County Council - which mostly goes on about Paul Simon!]