One of the genuine pleasures of compiling this book has been the generous support we have received from others working in the field. Everyone who was approached for permission to include material gave their immediate consent, and many others helped with information, access to material, advice and technical assistance. We must also express our gratitude to all the singers and collectors down the years who between them have provided us with such a wealth of archived and recorded songs. Modern life would be much the poorer if they had not made the effort to pass on this important part of our cultural heritage.
For permission to reprint material and for other assistance, our thanks to Merriol Almond of the Baring-Gould Corporation; David Atkinson; Elaine Bradtke; Clare College, Cambridge; Pete Coe; the Copper Family; Gordon Cox; Tony Engle of Topic Records; Martin and Shan Graebe; Reg Hall; Hugh Hamer; Dave Hillery; John Howson of Veteran; the Library of Congress (Carpenter Collection); Paul Marsh; Brian Matthews; Bob and Jackie Patten; Ian Russell; Derek Schofield; Rod and Danny Stradling of Musical Traditions; Bob Walser; and Mike Yates; and to our two professional colleagues Julian Elloway and Caroline Pretty, for the immense amount of care they have taken in (respectively) producing the music notations and copy-editing the text.
A special thank you, as always, to Malcolm Taylor, Peta Webb, Rebecca Hughes and Laura Smyth of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library for continued professional support, information, gossip, tea and sympathy.
And three colleagues who deserve special mention for their unstinting help way beyond the call of duty: Steve Gardham, John Moulden and Roy Palmer.