Sorry to hear Francis McPeak has died.
One of my own pics, lazily lifted from the ITMA site, my copyright.
Only recently learned that he and his family literally put the song “Wild Mountain Thyme” (back) on the map in the 1950s. R.I.P.
Yes, that is what he was singing when I took the pic above. It was a sore point, the family maintains Old Francis wrote the song. They pursued a copyright court case when Rod Stewart recorded it. And lost.
Francie taught John Lennon the pipes. He was contacted by management, set up with an apartment Iin London, supplied a set of pipes and taught Lennon. The Beatle returned the pipes to him after a while, he didn’t have the time to commit.
The McPeakes also taught generations of Belfast teenagers traditional music. They used to bring a bus load of them to the Willie week each year, partly to get them out of Belfast for the marching season (you know the Orange calendar: January, February, March, March, March…). I would have known Francie from those outings. Stories to tell..