1. Dame Durden 2. Rose of Allendale 3. As I walked out (‘Irish Polly’) 4. Sweet Lemeney 5. Adieu, Sweet Lovely Nancy 6. Charming Molly (on a girls’ night out) These six folksongs all appear in the Copper Family Songbook and are still performed to this day by the Copper family. Five of the arrangements were originally made for string orchestra at various times between 2002 and 2005 for Andrew Sherwood and the Brighton Youth String Ensemble in gratitude for many memorable performances of my music. In 2008 I revised the suite for full orchestra and added an extra movement (Adieu, Sweet Lovely Nancy). This version received its first performance in March 2009 by the Sussex Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Andrew James. I then rearranged the extra movement for string orchestra. Although the original tunes should at all times be clearly heard, these movements are intended to have the character of a creative response to the sources rather than to be just straight arrangements. My treatment of each song was sometimes suggested by the character of its melody, sometimes by the text and sometimes just by my imagination! The original Dame Durden, for example, has nonsense words but a woman called Dame Durden might once have existed in reality. I imagined her as a strong character, ruling her little household with a rod of iron but tempered by rough good humour. Rose of Allendale is a miniature tragedy, As I walked out has a touch of irony, while Sweet Lemeney is played against the imaginary background of a tempestuous south downs gale. The text of Adieu Sweet lovely Nancy concerns a sailor’s farewell to his fiancée. While holding out the promise of their eventual marriage, he points out that as soon as another war breaks out; he will be off to sea again! I intended the mournful character of my arrangement to suggest that Nancy has a strong premonition of his death before the marriage can take place. Finally, the song Charming Molly, with its delightfully irregular pulse suggested the character of a virtuoso display piece for the orchestra gradually increasing in tempo to a riotous conclusion.