PETER CANN talks to legendary folk singer Peggy Seeger about her benefit concert for Ruskin College

Among the archives of Ruskin College that have accumulated in more than a century since it emerged in the shadow of Oxford University is an unusual item of history - a gold disc.

The disc marks a million sales of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack. The American singer donated it to its composer - the British folk singer and dramatist Ewan MacColl. It sits among records, songsheets, scripts, letters and memorabilia that make up the Ewan MacColl archive that was established at Ruskin after his death in 1989.

The origin of that song has passed into legend. It was a chance meeting between Ewan and a young American singer, Peggy Seeger, that inspired the words. This is how she described that moment: "At the age of nearly 21, on March 25, 1956, at 10.30 in the morning, I entered a basement room in Chelsea, London, and sealed my fate. Ewan MacColl was sitting on the other side of the room. Twenty years my senior, he was a singer and songwriter par excellence. We were together 24 hours a day for three decades, two people rolled compatibly into one."

They were to have three children together - Neill, Calum and Kitty - and as a duo Peggy and Ewan were to become famous as folk singers, dramatists and activists.

Their work together was seminal, reaching a high point in the groundbreaking Radio Ballads, which weaved the voices of rarely-heard communities with songs written about the people's experiences, recorded for the BBC in the late fifties and early sixties.

Yet Peggy, part of a folk family in the US, was to become a towering voice and performer in her own right, with songs such as Gonna Be an Engineer, Ballad of Springhill and Come Fill Up Your Glasses, and becoming one of the key figures in the folk revival both sides of the Atlantic. Her songwriting collection also forms part of the MacColl archive.

It is for a benefit for Ruskin that she performs in concert in Oxford next week. She has a deep affection for the Walton Street college and its history as a trade union educational institution - and for the staff who look after the archive.

"When Ewan died in 1989, I deposited 60 boxes of records, letters, probably bills, everything, with the college - it was such a tragic time - I call them my Ruskin Angels. I haven't been back for ten years so I'll be interested to see them again."

The concert was suggested more than a year ago but the college had to wait until Peggy was touring.

Prof Audrey Mullender, Principal of Ruskin, said: "Peggy's message is so in tune with Ruskin College's values and ideals. She sings about justice and equality, so she has a lot to say to our troubled world."

Last year, I was among those privileged to see Peggy celebrate her 70th birthday in front of a packed audience on an emotional night at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Apart from the likes of Waterson: Carthy and Billy Bragg, she was joined by the other famous members of her family - brother Mike, and her half-brother Pete Seeger, now 87.

She recalled: "Everyone joined in on choruses and I saw so many old friends afterward that the cockles of my heart neared combustion point. I thought Pete did beautifully, despite the fact that he is losing his voice and hearing, and his memory!"

The family was steeped in music growing up in New York in the 1930s and forties. She began playing piano at the age of seven and by the age of 11 was transcribing music and was familiar with counterpoint and harmony. "My mother and father, nieces and nephews, were all into music, folk song rang through everything," Peggy said.

The family's contribution has just received a recent tribute from none other than Bruce Springsteen, whose We Shall Overcome, the Pete Seeger Sessions, places it, and their folk tradition, once again at the heart of American music. Peggy said: "It works - that's what happens. Folk songs are very simple and easy, which is a good thing."

After 21 albums, her own contribution continues to grow. She is in London with her own family recording for her Home Trilogy. "My sons have studios in their homes and my daughter does the graphics."

After Ewan's death, Peggy started a strong musical relationship with her new partner, Irene Scott, touring under the name of No Spring Chickens. They have produced a series of albums of political and love songs together, notably Almost Commercially Viable and Period Pieces: Women's Songs for Men and Women. In 1998, Peggy issued the Peggy Seeger Songbook, Warts and All, as a companion to The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook.

Her beliefs remain as strong as ever.

"I have a reputation for being an activist, a progressive, an advocate, a mover-and-shaker, a leftwinger, a feminist, a singer of songs which try to move humanity on a little down the road towards that time when our descendants will look back upon us as Neanderthals, dinosaurs, blind hopefuls groping our way towards the future."

Though her home is once more in the US, in North Carolina, she visits Britain regularly, and when not writing songs about George Bush and the Iraq war, she tries to keep tabs on events in her other home.

"I don't think I give as much attention as I should to what is happening here - the Labour Party and the war, Muslims and racism - after all, it is easier to follow events in the UK."

Just like her beliefs, her performances remain undiminished. At least for a while.

"I'll give it another five years. As long as I'm in good voice, enjoying the repertoire, and I've got the will."

Peggy Seeger can be seen at Romanway, Rover (Oxford) Sports and Social Club, Horspath Road, Cowley, on September 28 at 7pm. Supporing her on the night will be singer Maeve Bayton, a lecturer at the college. Tickets cost £13, concessions £11. Call Orlagh Muldoon on 01865 517 812 or email omuldoon@ruskin.ac.uk