Hylda Sims (3 April 1932 – 13 January 2020) was an English folk musician and poet.

Biography

She was born in 1932, to parents who travelled the country in a caravan selling homemade

herbal remedies Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedie ...

. Her father, Thomas Sims, was a member of the

Plebs' League The Plebs' League was a British educational and political organisation which originated around a Marxist way of thinking in 1908 and was active until 1926. History Central to the formation of the League was Noah Ablett, a miner from the Rhondda wh ...

, and a founding member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hilda attended

Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-paying) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other wa ...

in Suffolk, before leaving in her mid-teens and starting to live in

Swiss Cottage Swiss Cottage is an area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, England. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and includes Swiss Cottage tube station. Swiss Cottage lies north-northwest of Charing Cross. The ...

, London. Her first guitar was a gift from

Ivor Cutler Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recorde ...

. She joined the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YC ...

, and then the London Youth Choir set up by university lecturer

John Hasted John Barrett Hasted (17 February 1921 – 4 May 2002) was a British physicist and folk musician.David Gregory. (2002). ''In Memoriam: John Hasted, 1921-2002''. Canadian Folk Music/Bulletin de musique folklorique canadienne, Vol 36, No. 2. pp. 3- ...

. She travelled with the choir to festivals in communist eastern Europe, and by the mid-1950s also sang and played guitar in

coffee bar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

s in central London, while working at Collet's book and record shop. From 1954, she was in a personal relationship with

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

painter Russell Quaye. Together with John Pilgrim and John Lapthorne, they formed the City Ramblers (later the City Ramblers

Skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

Group), playing a mixture of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

songs, and in 1955 set up the weekly Studio Skiffle club in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

. During the British

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...

boom of the mid to late 1950s, and later, Sims toured widely as a member of the City Ramblers, and recorded for the Storyville and

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labels. In the 1960s, she studied at

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

. She later taught

English as a foreign language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

in London and Spain, and established Lifespan, a residential community at

Dunford Bridge Dunford Bridge is a remote hamlet in the civil parish of Dunford, lying northwest of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, from the border with West Yorkshire and from the border with Derbyshire. It lies in the Peak District, west of Penis ...

on the

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

. She received a B.A. and an MSc in Russian Studies, and published three novels and two collections of poetry, ''Sayling the Babel'' (2006) and ''Reaching Peckham'' (2009). Hylda Sims
''Hearing Eye''. Retrieved 15 January 2020 She regularly read her verse at poetry events, and performed with the City Ramblers Revival. "Hylda Sims remembered"
''The Poetry Society'', 15 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020 Sims died in January 2020 at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Hylda 1932 births 2020 deaths 20th-century British poets People educated at Summerhill School Skiffle musicians