the collection box
In this issue Warren Fahey has given us
two unpublished gems
from his collection.

In 1974 I visited Mrs Susan Colley at the Bathurst Home for the Aged. I was in the Bathurst area and, as it was my custom, I visited the community old folk's home and asked if any of the residents played music or sung old songs. This usually drew a blank but not always and, in this instance, I was presented to Mrs Colley, who had been recorded by Alan Scott many years earlier. I didn't know that Mrs Colley was still alive so it was a wonderful opportunity to revisit a song carrier. Mrs Colley was in her early nineties and the recording session was a real treat for both of us with Mrs Colley regularly introducing her songs and concertina tunes with “I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this opportunity to sing again”. Whilst I recorded several songs that Alan had transcribed I was also given some new material including this charming version of 'One More River to Cross'. It's a great favourite whenever I sing to children so pass it on.

ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS

Bob Taylor of Rockhampton sent me endless old ditties and poems as we corresponded for several years. Mr Taylor worked with horses all his life and loved nothing better than a galloping rhyme. Sometimes I would open my mail to find a poem that I simply had to learn and The Drinker was a definite starter. Bob had learnt it some forty years ago and I haven't been able to track it down – maybe a reader can identify this one for me?