ADVICE TO A YOUNG LARKMAN (BobPegg) Jim Jarratt 19th Mar 2024

ADVICE TO A YOUNG LARKMAN. (Bob Pegg)Advice to a Young Larkman in the original version may be found on Bob's album 'The Last Wolf' (1996). Bob based it on the recorded testimony of Mr. Jack Ingham of Luddenden as part of his 'Calderdale Voices' oral history project in 1976/77. Jack Ingham was born around 1900. His father John, was landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn in the nearby hilltop village of Midgley. Midgley no longer has a pub (indeed in my memory it had to campaign to get a village shop!) but in the pre- industrial days it was a much more important place, hugging what was then the main highway over the Pennines into Lancashire. The Industrial Revolution of course opened up the adjacent valley floor below to urbanisation and modern arteries of communication, leaving upland communities high and dry. But Midgley still prospered due to the extensive quarrying on the nearby moorland escarpment - so much so that it had around seven hostelries to cater for the thirst of quarrymen! The Lord Nelson (now a private cottage) stands at the western entrance to the village. It was here that Jack Ingham lived with his father. Jack told Bob about the 'Lark Sings' he used to see there, and indeed Bob crafts his song so well, that the lyrics are almost verbatim to Jacks own words, Bobs sole personal input being the observation at the end of the song! Lark singing Associations were common all over Pennine West Yorkshire in the Victorian epoch, along with various other varieties of 'Bird Fancying', the sole surviving 'sport' today being pigeon racing. Lark Sings came to an end with wildlife protection legislation, making it illegal to disturb the habitats of moorland birds (though not the grouse it would seem!). Taking baby larks from the nest, was of course a human intrusion, and perhaps baby larks sometimes died in the process. Often the adult larks were eventually put back out on the moor from which they came - another unintended but potentially cruel action, as the larks would at that point be completely humanised. Jack did not do so. He kept his lark as pet and it would sing for him. And there ends the story. For my part recording and filming it was a labour of love. Bob came to visit last summer (2023) and I explained to him that each morning when I part my curtains (rain and mist permitting!) I look up and see the edge of Midgley Moor, and imagine Bobs young Larkman walking along the skyline with his larkbox. Bob was eager to hear my version of his song with my 'larkbox' (the Canarian Timple). And thus the project was born. Many thanks Buddy!
Jim Jarratt