Midwinter (3)

Midwinter came into existence almost by accident when guitarists Paul Corrick and Ken Saul initially got together to rehearse a spot for a Great Yarmouth folk club Christmas Party. All they could come up with was a guitar duet version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", so they invited singer Jill Child to join them to form a trio. Deciding to try out some original material, an interest in local folklore and legends provided the inspiration for two songs, "Sanctuary Stone" and "The Skater", included in this first performance. That was December 1972, but the response was such that during the next two years Midwinter performed at clubs and festivals throughout East Anglia and occasionally further afield. They also continued to play as residents at the Great Yarmouth club. Taking their name from a title of a John Buchan novel that happened to coincide with the season of the band's inception, they added more material based upon East Anglian stories and legends. In the summer of 1973 some of the songs were recorded for a demo tape and at this session Midwinter were joined by Dick Cadbury (of Decameron fame) and Mick Burroughs who was later to be part of Stoneangel with Paul and Ken. Until now these recordings remained unreleased and would probably have continued as such but for a chance "rediscovery" of the master tapes in a box in Ken's attic ! Although none of the later songs were recorded, this present collection gives a fair cross-section of the material performed by the band at this time. Midwinter came to an end when Gill left with a farewell concert on September 11th 1974. Some of the songs lived on however as a few months later Ken and Paul formed a new band called Stoneangel.