Mike Garland
Mike started singing in the 1960s in the folk clubs around Coventry and
Nuneaton. At Worcester he helped to run the College Folk Club and joined the
Faithful City Morris Men. Moving to Suffolk in 1970, he joined East Suffolk
Morris Men and helped to run the Felixstowe Folk Festival. In 1977 he took over
as Bagman of the Morris Ring and from 1988 to 1990 served as Ring Squire. He
still dances with East Suffolk and has been Bagman, Foreman and Squire for the
team. He plays with the Inertia Reel band and for the past few years has been
their caller.
Early influences and friends from the days in the midlands include The Halliard,
Eddie and Finbar Furey, Bill Caddick, Pete Coe, John Foreman and Robin and
Barry Dransfield. He had met The Halliard just before moving to Worcester and
the friendship with Nic Jones continued when he moved down to Suffolk. Robin
was the driving force of the College club and was kind enough to take Mike
along on some of his bookings. John Foreman introduced Mike to the delights of
the Music Hall.
Mike says: “I am sure that you will easily spot these influences in my set and I make no
apologies for that. They are all great singers and the songs deserve to be
heard. I only hope that I do the material justice. I know that having Adam to
join me on whistles for some of the songs is an enormous help, and certainly
gives me a lot of pleasure.”