St Andrews Folk Club with Swan Arcade 29-4-73 (full concert)

Based on an archived audio recording of Swan Arcade performing at St Andrews Folk Club in the Star Hotel, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland in April 1973.


Swan Arcade, formed in Yorkshire in 1970 by Dave Bradley and his wife, Heather, together with vocalist Jim Boyes (later of Coope, Boyes and Simpson), the group performed a wide variety of material, including blues, pop and rock and roll, together with traditional folk music - largely performed ‘a cappella’.

The band took its name from Swan Arcade, a Victorian shopping arcade in Bradford.

The name Bradley became misspelt on a poster and Dave decided to stick with Brady as a performing identity.

Despite having lost an arm in a motorcycle accident, Dave Brady played concertina, by holding it between his knees, and also played synthesiser and bass. Heather Brady played dulcimer and cello. Dave had an imposing presence with long, wild hair, a bushy beard, piercing eyes - and a piercing voice.

When Jim Boyes left in 1973, he was replaced by Royston Wood, from the disbanded vocal group Young Tradition and it is this line-up which features here. This was the second visit of the group to St Andrews, the group in its original form having played the club the previous year.

Recorded works of Swan Arcade include six albums, three sessions for John Peel's legendary Radio 1 show, while their concert performances brought them to the attention of thousands of folk music fans.

Dave never regarded his ‘lost’ arm as a disability. He was a one-armed golfer, pot-holler, would use a chainsaw and following the disbandment of the group, in the ‘90’s, was employed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as transport manager - moving the instruments, including grand pianos, and driving their huge truck up and down the country and abroad. He also sang with Mr. McFall's Chamber, an offshoot of the SCO – featuring on their first CD “Like the Milk”.

Dave, sadly died of emphysema, in London in 2006.
Heather became a Labour Councillor and served as Mayor of Carlisle in 1998-99 retiring as Carlisle's longest-serving councillor in 2018.
Royston Wood who features on this recording died after an unfortunate car accident in the US in 1990.