I was in the local Co-op in Farsley in 1988 when I heard a mellow voice warbling an old-time 1930s dance band song. I could just make out March Winds and April Showers, a lively quickstep, drifting through the store.

Must be Len Steele I thought, he’s the only person likely to know it, let alone sing it in the Co-op. I knew that he, like me, was a keen collector of old time songs and tunes. As I moved through the aisles there he was, cheerfully singing away at the tender age of 78.

We had a good natter, mainly about music. Through the check-out, we were still chattering, and we began to burst into odd bits of this song and that, continuing to the bus stop, and on to the bus.

The singing gained impetus, and soon the rest of the passengers were joining in, with well-known favourites such as My Old Man Said Follow the Van and Walking My Baby Back Home. It was a jolly bus journey, and people began asking for requests, which we were only too pleased to sing.

But there was one request we couldn’t sing. “Do you know the song about the little Dutch boy and the little Dutch girl?” someone asked. Unfortunately neither of us had ever heard of it, and no-one else on the bus had either. It was a complete mystery.

I puzzled and fretted about this song for 25 years, until my partner discovered the sheet music of a song called The Little Dutch Boy and the Little Dutch Girl on the Plate. We thought it might have been that song, but it seemed a bit obscure to be so popular with the locals. I wasn’t convinced.

Another five years went by, when, thanks to good old Google, I discovered what I am sure is the song requested, all those years ago. Recorded by the Lennon Sisters in 1958 it’s called the Little Old Mill, and it goes like this:

The little Dutch Boy and the little Dutch Girl
Sat dreaming on a hill
Tick Tock Tick Tock went the funny old clock
And the little old mill went round and round and round went The little old mill.