Around 10 years ago some pals and I put together an Anglo/Scots band to try and realise some musical ideas we had been thinking of for a while. We named ourselves The Toffee Works after the factory in Jon’s home town which makes that famous Wigan sweet, Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls.

Involved in the project was Jon Brindley on guitar, fiddle and vocals;
Rab Woods on guitar, mandola, banjo and vocals;
Tim Veitch on acoustic and electric cellos;
Me on pipes, whistles and mandolin.

The band didn’t survive too long, mostly due to the distances involved, but I did love playing with them and I think we created some fine music.

We never recorded anything in a studio but we do have a recording of a rehearsal at Colin Blakey’s house in Kendal. These tunes are ‘Young and Lusty Was I’ from the William Dixon manuscript of 1733 and Carnac from the Rab Woods manuscript of 2007.