Frank Purslow

Frank Purslow, singer, musician, song-book editor. Died April 2007, aged 81.

An obituary in the Oxford Mail stated:

He made many appearances at dances throughout Oxfordshire and in other parts of the country as leader and accordion player of the Bampton Barn Dance Band.

Mr Purslow, a bachelor, wrote books on folk music, composed and compiled collections of songs, taught enthusiasts to play musical instruments and was often seen at the Bodleian Library in Oxford researching his subject.

He was such an authority that the English Folk Dance and Song Society was preparing to award him the Gold Badge, its highest accolade, but he died at his home at Weald, near Bampton, shortly before he was to receive it. The presentation was due to coincide with the launch of a new edition of one of his books, Marrow Bones.

Don Rouse, caller for the Bampton Barn Dance Band, recalled how he and Mr Purslow had helped form a band called the Bampton Morris 8 in 1974 to raise money to send a representative to a funeral being held in Oxford's twin city of Leiden in Holland.

He said: "I had a barn and the contacts to put on a barn dance and Frank was the man to put it together for me.

"I have lost count of the number of barn dances we have run since then, or the amount of money we have raised, but instigation of it all goes back to Frank."

The band was renamed The Bampton Barn Dance Band in 1975 and continued for 29 years.

Frank recorded an LP with John Pearce in 1959: Rap-a-tap-tap] - later reissued as Bottoms Up: Songs Miss Pringle never taught us. This included a number of songs from the Hammond and Gardiner collections, from which he subsequently edited four influential song-book collections for the EFDSS: Marrow Bones, The Wanton Seed, The Constant Lovers, and The Foggy Dew.

As well as playing for barn dances, he was for many years a musician with the Traditional Bampton Morris Dancers (the "Woodley side").