An evening with Peggy Seeger

We were honoured to welcome American folk singer Peggy Seeger to our September meeting. Peggy has a musical career which spans over 60 years and she is still writing and performing at the age of 82. Peggy spent an hour singing and playing the banjo, autoharp and English concertina and sharing some of her memoirs. She began by introducing us to songs she learned during her childhood in the Great Depression. Peggy told us that there is a lot of misery in American folk songs. She went on to sing "First time ever I saw your face" which was written for her by Ewan McCall in 1957. Feminism, which Peggy described as "women fighting for the interests of women" has been a big influence in her music. We were entertained by "Gonna be an Engineer" which Peggy wrote in 1967 and which later became one of the anthems of the women's movement. The hour flew by and we enjoyed a memorable evening in the presence of a talented and inspirational woman.