Cleckheaton Folk Festival is back

Jun 12 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CALLING all folk fans – Cleckheaton Folk Festival is fast approaching.

The 2009 event will take place from July 3 to 5 and will be the 22nd folk festival held in Cleckheaton.

Organisers say the bill is bigger and better than ever.

Acts include headliners the Battlefield Band from Scotland who have been making music for 30 years.

Other headliners are Australian Eric Bogle, on his farewell tour, John Munro and the Ruth Notman Trio.

Also performing will be Canadian musician Tom Lewis and local talent including Blackstone Edge, Duncan McFarlane and Anne Brivonese, Beaumont Brothers, Berkana, Bruce Baillie and Russ Hughes.

National names on the bill include His Worship and The Pig, Mrs Ackroyd, Something Nasty In The Woodshed, Belshazzars Feast, Scolds Bridle and Cockersdale.

New talent will also have a chance to shine at the festival’s Hiring Fair.

They will perform in front of a live audience and judges will choose acts to win a confirmed booking at next year’s event.

But the festival is not all about music – it’s about all things folk.

This includes workshops. This year musicians will be able to learn skills on the mandolin, fiddle, guitar and concertina from tutors Gina Le Faux, Duncan McFarlane and Carolyn Wade and The Yorkshire Concertina Club.

There will be meet-the-artist sessions, plus an arts and crafts fair and family fun day on Sunday.

This will feature entertainment such as face painting, Punch and Judy, street entertainers and a bouncy castle.

There will be dancing in the streets all weekend, especially on the Saturday when there will be a parade.

For those who want to have a go at traditional dancing there will be a free Festival Ceilidh with the band Full House.

A farmers market will also be held in Cleckheaton on the Saturday and there will be a festival cafe over the weekend at Cleckheaton Town Hall.

For more details, visit www.cleckheatonfolkfestival.org or call 01274 879761.