I'm still writing songs'

THIS WEEK'S COLUMNIST Folk music legend Peggy Seeger

- SHARON SWEENEY

I first went onstage when I was 15 years old - 75 years ago – so my final performance in Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin, in June, was highly emotional.

It was the last in a farewell tour of the UK and Ireland, during which I turned 90.

My eldest son Neill is David Gray's guitarist. When he told someone he was off on tour, they seemed surprised he was touring at 66, on his 90-year-old mother’s very last concert tour.

I'd never have managed these concerts without my sons Neill and Calum, and my manager, Kerry Harvey-Piper. I've played music with the boys since they were in their teens, and the three organised everything on this final jaunt.

In the three decades when I toured with my first life partner, folk singer Ewan MacColl, I made all the complex arrangements myself, so I know how much work it involves. Making my final tour possible was an act of love. Ironically, we couldn’t enjoy a family hug on stage at the end because we all had norovirus except Neill, and we didn’t want to risk passing it on to him.