Cyril Poacher

Cyril Poacher: was born at Stone Common, near Blaxhall, Suffolk, in 1910, to Alice (née Ling) and Lewis Poacher of Blaxhall.  Like his father he was a cowman almost all his life.  He married, joined the army and was stationed at Catterick Camp during Second World War, before returning to Blaxhall in 1946, to work at Grove Farm, where he remained until he retired in 1975.  In the early ‘70s, he moved to live in nearby Snape with his wife.

He learned songs as a child by listening to his grandfather, William ‘Cronie’ Ling, and his grandfather’s brothers, Aaron and Aldeman, and he began singing at eight years old.  He first sang in public in Blaxhall Ship at the age of about nineteen.  He also learned songs from other local singers there, many being of his father’s and grandfather’s generations.