Re: Ronnie Wathen -- The SWAUP Message Board

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Subject: Re: Ronnie Wathen

Author:
Les Billsberry

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Date Posted: 13:59:47 01/02/03 Thu
In reply to: Mike Litchfield 's message, "Ronnie Wathen" on 13:25:10 12/10/02 Tue

>Ronnie was a great friend to me when I knew him in
>Majorca in 1968-69. I learned that he has since died,
>but would love to know of any recordings of his that
>still exist or any other communications from those who
>knew him well.

Mike - I met Ronnie several times, usually at the Irish Centre in Camden
Town, London, where I was having lessons in uilleann piping in the late 80's
/ early 90's . He also came to our weekend in Ilfracombe in November 1990
(South Western Association Of Uilleann Pipers ) and played the magnificent,
legendary set of pipes that he had made by Geoff Wooff in Australia. Geoff
is now in Ireland and would be able to supply you with info about Ronnie,
I'm sure.

I have no recordings of Ronnie, though you may try Na Piobairi Uillerann at
15 Henrietta Street, Dublin to see if they have any archive material of
Ronnies playing. It's worth a shout if you havn't done so already. They
would also have Geoff Wooff's address.

There was an obituary published in The Guardian on Thursday, October 14th
1993, written by Jim Perrin. It's a substantial piece and is describes much
of Ronnie's extraordinary life in a nutshell. The same article appears in An
Piobaire, the newsletter for Na Piobairi Uilleann in Dublin, accompanied by
a piece by Mike Banks. If you are unable to obtain these articles and would
like me to photocopy and send then do let me have your address and I'll do
so.

Strangely enough, I was just reading Ronnie's obituary and realised that
he lived in Deya. I passed through Deya last Summer and vowed to return.
When I do I shall not only do the Robert Graves bit but the Ronnie bit as
well... I shall look forward to that!

Good luck with your quest and I hope you find what you need with regard to
Ronnie - he was a mighty, mighty, mighty man.

All the best - Les Billsberry.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: Ronnie Wathen	steve cataway	03:24:27 04/10/12 Tue