DAVE BURROWS - 1952 - 2022

Dave Burrows, founder member of Fiddlestone, who was born in 1952, sadly passed away on the 8th March 2022 after a long battle with cancer. Firstly we would like to remember Dave’s wife, sister, brother and family, to whom we pass our sincere condolences.

Dave’s wife Jane, has lived with Fiddlestone all her married life and more, thank you for all your wonderful support and understanding.

Dave created the band in 1968, alongside Malcolm Ashman and Jon Ford. The band was formed whilst all being members of the 1st Great Sutton Scouts where Les Bourne also joined.

Dave maintained his interest in scouting throughout his life, eventually becoming Group Scout Leader for the 1st Great Sutton Scouts.

Dave’s voice and Concertina were always front and centre of the band throughout all it’s iterations. His early influences were from Ireland with groups such as The Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners and the Fureys, but then came a long relationship with the Penny Farthing Folk Club held at the Travellers Rest Little Sutton. It was here that Andy Chrimes joined the band. When a membership scheme was introduced for the Penny Farthing he was first in the queue and was consequently member no 1 (his proud boast).

Fiddlestone established residency at the Penny Farthing and ran the club for a number of years. The two most recent members of the band, Carl Rogers and Lee Creswell were regular members of the audience as well as under age drinkers.

The band was influenced by many artists attending the club both local and national, Ralph McTell, Martin Carthy, Alan Taylor, Leonard and Squire and Alastair Anderson to name but a few.

To us Dave was first and foremost our friend whom we had the honour to share our lives and our music with. A perceptive person who once observed Fiddlestone didn’t need an audience they already have each other. Dave could always be counted on to be a friend when you needed one most, never judgmental always forgiving and with a caring heart.

What a voice though! Powerful, rich, subtle and the foundation of Fiddlestone’s music. When playing he could lift a song to a new level accompanying Andy, Les and Jon to create musical joy. They would then tell Carl, Lee and Mal exactly what they needed us to do to complete the harmony.

Dave’s taste in Music was pretty wide, he was certainly a life long fan of the Rolling Stones but we managed to avoid playing any of there music, although we have covered some Beatles, Cliff Richard , Procol Harem, The Hollies and Dire Straights over the years.

Dave became an excellent player of the English Concertina and we believe that his first Wheatstone Concertina found him rather than the other way round. ie. it was fate.

Although we will miss him dearly as a wonderful and generous musician, it will not compare to how we will miss him as a dear and loving friend.