It would. Suit thought . That was Morton Gore got his orchestra and solitude and before that Percy Faith in his orchestra and the Spanish serenade that was this month's like program this time next week one of the magic of the musicals play a couple of songs in the world of Hollywood Broadway and the West End for you to enjoy 7 minutes after 10 right now hi to Vivek says hi you David it's very from right here that would you please play it for me can't help loving that man of mine by Lena Horne as it was one of my mom's favorite songs in 1981 when I was in San Francisco we get you to use the Golden Gate Bridge to make an friends we went to see it in her one woman show which was absolutely fantastic and it would bring back lovely memories for me to hear it on your progress list. My love Mr. Ama kill. You. There ain't no reason. For me to love that. Us. Where. Fish got a song. Birds got up. Got a log on Mare. And where. There. Is where. Hell man crew. Oh. So. If. We can come home. Be. Home. You. You know she doesn't get requested that often but one of the great voices a Lena Horne can't help love in debt man play that one for visit in right who's had she lucky enough to see Lena Horne in concert back in 1981 in San Francisco with 2 American friends it was a one woman show when she was happy fantastic I bet you had a great time in San Francisco and I enjoyed it I went there myself a few years back now. Oh I loved it oh it was just it was just great and we had a great time very that was for you know then high to Susan in Redhill as they did David Love your show it's the radio highlight of the week for me funny enough is my highlight as well well I get to get out and please play for me missing you by Chris de Burgh It's been ages since I last heard it and it will bring back a lot of memories for me. Susan sit back enjoy Chris. I got the Rose. Earlier. This is the. Used. Obsessed 6 Christabel missing year for Susan in Red Hill I wanted to hear that what hasn't heard it for quite a while hi to Rose and Maria finance who are listening in Oxford says David please can I request the rose by BET Midler from I'm Rosa. On that Saturday forwards that will be great we hope that you and Robin everybody a well that last Saturday rounded midnight we heard the old Jim Reeves was good to hear Jim Reeves on the program I know you like about it Jim Reeves and also where did you see the beautiful super moon the other day and her dad Michael died on those are super moon night and sorrows and myself always make a wish in his memory and if you ever see a full moon especially a super moon I'm sure he'd love it many moons ago Rosa was a member of the D.M.'s aka the Dean Martin Association who Judy said Rosa 2 of the enclosed cars and Rose I want you to have one it said Dean Martin and it's a lovely picture of him as well so thank you so much he was a good looking chap was me and she says deep Martin's voice to Rosie is like velvet and justice. When I hope you can read all of my left hand writing I can very well indeed your writing well and so for you thank you so much for the Di Martin photograph that's fantastic and he was badly from the right. Thank you. And. So on. A. Song. . Was 8. Hours. C. C. E E T. Bette Midler and the rose play that one for Rose and Marie in Oxford Abbott a vote Ronnie Hilton coming your way no hi to Wendy Hutchens him you know the lovely ka thank you so much it was similar because it's says Hello David hello Rob he's he's mouthing hello back to you. Wasn't there a few days last weekend that was really warm and well yeah I wasn't but I did say I think you got it warm in your part of the world he didn't mind anyway I hope he's a taste of spring and summer to come oh yes I think I'm really ready for the spring now honey please could you play Roni Hilton and the gift of life thank you as always from Wendy as. He would is the gift money Hilton The keeps on giving. No strings as if her rooms in of. Love. You know I bring you his dick you. Know ring of gold out of 3210 when all the stars of. The. Go love is a. Thing. Top ship magic a spring. The golden dream average every wish you remember them and never really do it. For Love can be you know that. Are slipped away like sound right to your pain your soul is sweet sweet allows the good stuff. Illuminate their way to. Whatever but maybe fall I know that big you know love is the greatest. It. Was. Some. Kind of come. Down on love can be you know he didn't. Or slip away like Sam ride through your. Girl's school this next week and she could stall. Illuminates their way to. Whatever it may be for all I know is that if you don't love me there. Was. Money Hilton and the gift for Wendy in old to Shanghai to Pete says thank you so much for playing all the music that you play over the wakes and it would be possible to play the Zac Brown band singing goodbye in our eyes from the UN caged Elba or if not Alan Jackson singing It's 5 O'clock somewhere from his Greatest Hits Volume 2 album Well we haven't got round to guess what we got Alan Jackson with a bit of Jimmy Buffett as well and it's 5 o'clock somewhere. My For shadows does my baby blue. I the shadows high to Peden Tony in Shanklin he says Hi David please can you play either now or never or American Trilogy by Joe Jackie in Shanklin Many thanks I'm afraid we haven't got either of those Believe it or not I know it's hard to believe isn't it but we have got a bit too long thought I think but somebody else wanted some Joe Long Tom a bit later on in the program but I thought I'd let you know that we didn't have. Those 2 particular tracks but going to say hi to Sandra Hannaford who's in Horsham who tells me it's going to be Tony Allen of false 10 Alan's birthday tomorrow 24th of February going to be 67 years old we would have mentioned him on the birthdays tomorrow but I thought we mention him now and Sandra says Please could you wish you a very Happy Birthday for May I know they're going to be on tour in Scotland in the north of England in March so we'll be in Sussex but maybe you never know he may hear this well he may well hear this so please could you play a one of the following scheme a whole list of wants to play so well I've chosen one from your long list Saundra also going to play this one for Jody in roughly who wants a song for Jordan called in Edwin and Marion show off spray wants Foster and Allen and the way old friends do for neighbor Phyllis who is in the flat next door at the woman going to go for Actually this one I think you'll like it it's Red River Valley. Foster and Allan and Red River Valley played that one for Sandra Hannaford in Horsham who tells me it's Tony Allen's birthday tomorrow going to be 67 years old you are listening get Tony Have a great birthday I'm sure he's going to be enjoying himself will also play that one for Joe would enroll plea for Colleen Edwin and Mary in chance but you want to song for neighbor Phyllis in the flat next door all big Foster and Allen fans we're going to find out about thatching right after we have another track from our featured album of the night which is Val Doonican the gold collection and during his long career Val Doonican had a dozen Top 40 hit singles including 5 top 10 hits walk told the special years elusive butterfly what would I be and if the whole world stopped loving which all appear on this album as well as some less well known recordings like this one your the only one. Day I. Was a. Door the only one value in the gun for me is brand new best album a gun collection more in one hour's time. Time for this month's call of mosses where we look at various traditional crafts of the still being used in the 21st century this evening we're going to find out about the art of thatching And my guess is one of the best in the business who has been touching properties all over the U.K. As well as France Denmark and America for over 30 years as well as teaching the next generation of that just. At the willed and down in living museum in Chichester his master Thank you Chris Thompkins I'm pleased to say joins me right now hi chris lovely to have you on the show. As I mentioned in the introduction you've been a thatch of over 30 years how do you get into this line of work. I just I contacted a local Saturn and managed to get a job with him. And was it something you always fancied doing. Not at the beginning though once I got started I really enjoyed it sort of thing did you pick it up quite quickly. Yes I think so before we talk about thatching the mood detail can you got to give us a brief history of where when when fat Ching actually started. Actions probably one of all the oldest form of roofing in the world. Rome the only remaining structure you can see the remains of a post all round health. But it's been around for thousands of years kind of think it's just this country but it's one of the world is now worldwide and if things changed much over the years where you thatching roofs exactly the same way as they would have been doing hundreds of years ago the principles yeah exactly the sign there are some sort of tweaks to what we do sometimes but a lot of it is exactly the same actually the same 100 years ago why do you think it's still so popular. Think we've got building. OK Let's take a break. Come back and talk more about touching right off to James Taylor and up on the roof. When. And. Just too much. To me. I just. Write in. His piece. And. A. Stove. In. The. Sun and. Rain. Down in. the bowed to James Taylor and up on the roof and we play that because in this month's craft masters with finding out about sad Ching My guest is Master Sacha Thompkins and you've touched in France Denmark and even America is that right absolutely yeah yeah what kind of jobs you have over there. We we faxed for some celebrities in America but we had to sign secrecy at secrecy contracts cause this little article. We passed in Denmark an old building. From Jersey all over the place and is there much difference in method between what you do over here and what you do say in America now America. Obviously not any very old buildings out there and we're doing it sort of the modern for the modern way of such ing with Pixie one coat of factor ready to the roof timbers Useem modern fix modern fixings in the States. Do they tend to touch exactly the same way in Denmark in France as well. You know the only difference one crucial difference the U.K. I think is the only sort of country in the world where we we can in fact a new layer of fat on the old place the rest of the world tend to take the old thatch off every time and then you fix a new layer directly to the roof structure and I guess that saves money to snip it can go Yeah but the it keeps the roof dry where we think we don't have to take the old faction of the U.K. As examples of plant material that say up to 500 years old because the bottom line fact could be as old as the roof structure of the of the building and I would think a thatched roof in Devon would be made exactly the same way as a thatched roof so you can in West Sussex or Norfolk. The principles of the same the materials could be slightly different the pitch of the roof could be slightly different. And the length of the rafter length the shape and size could be different so let's get down to practicalities then do you use straw Yes we use straw mainly straw and watery today right and these are like a difference in appearance between the between the 2. Not necessarily. If the diameter of each step is the same size they could appear. Exactly the same it's it's the biggest difference is if you such a new layer of straw or so or all new low fat on top of an old layer the roof has a much thicker appearance whereas one coat of flats whatever material has a sort of thin a holder appearance ingenue like working with any in particular would you do you mind what you've done but you don't know what we thought you'd actually probably the more unusual the better something you have done for ages sometimes that you might have used sage. Or Merom grass and in Northern Ireland. Anything unusual be of interest had are things like Yeah so basically how do you Sacha root. We fix layers courses of facts like tiles if you like to make a fast tile and tall it'll fix the roof of the carry on like a normal routine and what kind of tools do you need. We have a bat we call a like it or baseball some people call it that we the fact we dress in the place with we have a hammer for driving driving things in we we now have cordless electric drills we put stainless steel crude screw was into the roof to hold such a right how does Babbitt a modern technology coming into an overall cost absolutely So how do you stop water from penetrating the Satch it's if you look at the fact roof the individual stems or whatever factual to it is they overlap each other in exactly the same way as a roofing tower slight does so the water runs off to the other one of the underneath and so on and so on all the way down the roof. Right OK let's take another break place more music we'll come back and talk more about thatching one up to Barry Manilow and on the roof. Bolts. Sky. I've. Been sad Yes. I would. Go as. Low as low as. Barry Manilow and on the roof we played that because in this month's masses with finding out about Sachin My guess is Master Thatcher Chris Tomkins I guess most people would love to have to live in a thatched cottage but they worry about fire I mean I thought troops more susceptible to fire possibly but it's to do with if you've got an eye open and you use that and the chimney is in poor condition but when if when one catches fire. Happens it's always all over the big story and it doesn't happen that often if you keep the chimney in good order and you're sensible about what the risks are very very low and how long roughly does a at that to last. Patch can last anything from say 20 to 50 and pending on the problem but it is and the amount of this is a mind. And said you have to remain tainted on a regular basis do you but what do you do. We say 15 to 20 years have a new. Roof and be cleaned and we had the straw roofs we tend that's one let them wear out and just replace them. And how long roughly does it take you to Thatcher a cottage maybe 6 way all right I guess you need good weather dear. But we. May be self is quite expensive so very windy ready and blows the fact that a why we could be wasting a lot of money is. The biggest problem for us and if you compare the cost of a thatched roof to say a normal tiled roof isn't much difference in price not a lot if you talk about a nice looking towel not a lot such sash factoring can be can cost less than the dearest for what more than the cheapest form of toilet and you find some people want to tiled all slate roof removed the thatch one put in its place and can you do that yes we can occasionally yes people want to because it looks nice Yeah and I guess as well as houses I suspect you can thank anything can't you sort of ban some houses you name it you'll search it exactly yeah. Of. All sorts of things anything could be fact I've noticed that some very fancy bits like a maybe a cockerel or something like that looks very artistic or they have a fancy bit on the apex of the roof looks very complicated I mean can you do that. Sort of form the Sachem but the ridge or are you talking about a fancy pattern Ridge Yeah. We put an extra sick bet on the i Pad if you like and then we can cut all sorts of patterns out of it yes it takes a bit of practice and experience as well so I guess you could be quite artistic as well haven't you yeah I think so yeah and searching seems to be as popular as ever with that in the case yes I think. Of the going Are you remember houses are the facts now in Kenya and can you make a decent living out of being a Thatcher these days. You know we get power we do all right and I know you employ a team of statues don't you see how many how do you have working with you have the service altogether and I notice on your website you even use a wooden scuffling sometimes that we're going down and it's a little museum yes we did that we had some period scaffolding when we were actually in one of their old barn there was an exhibit of the way we were acting in a why that it would have been done hundreds of years ago you know the same old in the same type of scaffolding and has that been a particular project that you've really enjoyed working on and been very proud of at the end. You know particularly enjoy it I'm very proud of. You run courses that don't. Tell me a little bit about that. You can the people can come out of one that he calls and be at the Wilderness downland usually it's actually on one of the buildings and we'll teach people to set for days of the thing and get them to get them to actually have a go at it and quite often what they do is good enough to stay on the roof and helps help with research in all their buildings I would think they would takes a little bit longer than a day there to become a mother says that she does know how long does it take but I think you have to start learning the sort of thing that I would say it's going to take you at least 3 years to get the basics and sort of 5 or 6 years to be a bit more experience of a better idea ready of all complicated stuff and if anybody's Listen to this fence is taking up catching as a career what should they do. Contact contact to such an arson for the job asking for a job or start look on a website the National Society of Master factious and make a list of members. Because not many courses being run is No I think is an old Few diag horses like I said but 2 you have to learn to become a proper fatso you'll need to get a job with an existing that show you how to do it and what's the difference between a normal hatch and a mostest that you're not you could question. I'm off the Satcher is just what he says a master Thatcher. So I think I think almost anybody legally could call themselves a mouse the fact but you you couldn't say you are a member of the National Society of Master factors unless you were a member and to become a member you have to submit. 3 or 4 jobs that you've done and it's vetted by older more experienced such as to make sure that your work is up to standard. And I guess from what you're saying there's no danger that these cops going to die at any time soon and know all the time as list listed building the facts buildings will be factors. And you'll see love what you do for we'll all factors love what they do. And I guess it's a great job in the summer maybe a bit cold in the winter yet we probably the hot summers biggest It's hard work in the hate to have another Last summer was very hot with most shade on the roof at least in a cold winter you can you can put another coat on or work a bit harder to keep warm but how do you how do you keep cold I'm sort of over 30 degrees on top of the roof of a shade. Absolutely well you're based in Bugner ages but I guess you go anywhere in the country when you're new in the world the work is there. And we fancy doing it yeah well I think everyone loves to see a beautifully thatched roof it is a work of art along with a master touches like a good self keep going and thank you so much for your time this evening.