Hi my name is Gerald, I am 60 years old and have just taken up the hurdy gudy.
I first saw and heard a hurdy gurdy on television in 1971 and really loved the sound. I even borrowed Palmer's book from the library to read about them. I then did nothing until 2005 when I bought a copy of the Palmer book and saw and heard a hurdy gurdy live at a concert by the York Waits. They are superb musicians and it was almost worth the ticket price just to walk around the stage in the interval and after the concert to look at, and talk to them about, their amazing collection of medieval instruments. Thus inspired I started looking on ebay but all I could afford was a battered and incomplete, amateur-made, guitar-shaped hurdy gurdy. I have managed to get this in working order and, after buying Doreen Muskett's method book, can now play a few tunes. I live near Cambridge, England and do not know of anyone in the area with a hurdy gurdy, so I am having to learn on my own as best I can and am realising that I am probably starting at least 30 years too late! Anyway the hg group has already been of use as I now know that a strange noise is "keybox roar" so I can now do something about it. Many thanks to all you knowledgeable people out there. Gerald Walker Cottenham, Cambridge, U.K.
