Born in 1948 at Northampton, Ruairidh Greig grew up and was educated in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Inspired by the folk revival of the 1960s, he began to explore his Scottish family traditions and those from his local area in Lincolnshire. His initial interest in song soon extended to most aspects of folk life and folklore. Whilst training to be teacher, in Sheffield, he became involved with the University Survey of Language and Folklore as a volunteer collector. After qualifying, he completed a postgraduate Master of Philosophy degree on Seasonal House-Visiting Customs in South Yorkshire. Returning to Lincolnshire in 1979, he has continued to research local customs and traditions, especially the Plough Play.
Tape recordings of interviews conducted in the Sheffield area, North Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, with edited transcriptions; field notebooks, newspaper cuttings, manuscripts and correspondence. Folk drama material relates to the following performance customs: Old Tup, Old Horse, Jolly Minering, Wassailing, Hero-Combat Play and Plough Play.
The original tape recordings are held in the Special Collections department in the University of Sheffield library. Copies of recordings, transcriptions, notebooks, and all other material are in the collector’s possession at his home.
Access to the recordings at the Special Collections department may be arranged with the collector’s consent.
Most of the sound recordings are included in the Roud index on the VWML website. Access to the collector’s home-based collectioncan be arranged via this website’s contact form. Contact
No further information.