User:Ian Russell

I've been playing music since childhood. I played euphonium in brass bands through my teens. In my mid-teens I began to take a serious interest in folk music (and guitar and mandolin). My father's singing and his books and records got me off to a good start. When I went to Sussex University (to study biological sciences) I met and became friends with Vic Gammon and Will Duke. I was in at the beginning of the Pump and Pluck Band and played (trombone and banjos) and sang with Will, Vic and Sheila Gammon, Alun Howkins, Pam Gilder and Eddie Upton amongst others in those early days of 'hardcore English". I had two years out from Pump and Pluck while I lived and worked in India. I also did some depping with the London band Nellie the Elephant.

For almost all my working life I have been a primary school teacher, in recent years a music specialist. As a music teacher I've also done a good deal of work in Early Years settings. I manage a Saturday morning music centre which caters also for secondary school pupils.