Norman bought his first banjo, an old Barnes & Mullins No 1, in 1962 from an advert in the Exchange & Mart, and learned the basics. Picked up the guitar a few years later influenced by the folk revival and university performers like Ralph McTell and Jessie Fuller. Having spent some time in West Virginia where the banjo and fiddle prevail, along with a strong influence of Scottish square dance music, he picked up the local banjo playing style of clawhammer and now goes on an annual pilgrimage to the October Augusta Festival in Elkins, West Virginia, where the old time string band is the norm and you get to jam with a raft of seriously good fiddle and banjo players for a whole 7 days (and nights).

(5 string banjo taster workshop, time TBC)