Strawbs play Kirkby on Monday...

FOLK-ROCK band The Strawbs were at their height during the glitzy years of the early 70s, with hit singles and albums and numerous appearances on Top of the Pops.

But lead singer and founder member Dave Cousins says meeting Jack Jones, then leader of the Transport and General Workers Union, was his fondest memory of those heady times, reports Andrew Thomas.

The Strawbs' single Part Of The Union - sung from the standpoint of a militant union member revelling in his power to disrupt factories and bother governments - was sitting at number two in the charts and had been adopted by the TGWU as its recruiting slogan.

As leading articles in The Times and The Sun asked whether or not the song should be banned, Dave met Jack Jones. "He was the sharpest, brightest, most intelligent man I had ever met," Dave told me.

Many of The Strawbs' songs conjure up an ethereal world of ghosts, heroes and magic, but Dave says others also had political messages. "New World was a heavy statement about Northern Ireland and the need for peace while we sang Martin Luther King's Dream in front of his widow when he came to this country."

Dave's feels sad that The Strawbs divided at the height of their commercial success, after recording the Bursting At The Seams album.

"Some of the band did not want to do my long, epic songs. Our manager should have banged our heads together and told us to work out a solution."

However, The Strawbs later enjoyed huge success in the American album charts, while two former members scored single successes as Hudson Ford.

Now Dave, with long-term Strawbs Dave Lambert and Chas Cronk, is touring an acoustic show, which calls at Kirkby Stephen's Rattan and Rush tearoom next Monday, September 20.

Old songs will be played, plus some from the excellent new album, Deja Fou, just released through Witchwood Media.

Dave says his ambition when he started the band in the late 60s was simply to make a single. He's now made around 20 albums and his enthusiasm for playing music shone through strongly during our conversation.

"I am amazed after 30 years I am still singing songs and filling theatres. I am absolutely loving it!"