Lymm Folk Club

Full House have been finding life increasingly busy with gigs over the last couple of years, so we thought we’d book them for Lymm Festival before they become too famous. They play songs a lot, they play tunes quite a lot and they probably drink more than is good for them!

For those of you unfamiliar with Chester’s longest running folk-opera, they are: Ian Jones (melodeon, flute, whistles), Chris Lee (Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Mandolins, Bass), Nick Mitchell (Vocals, Guitar, Mandola), Dave Russell (Vocals, Fiddle, Bouzouki, Guitar, Bass) and Mark Woolley ( Percussion, Low Whistle).

They love to play for people and so we hope you’ll drop in to see them tonight!

Bernard Cromarty - the incredible Bernard Cromarty! is an accomplished singer and multi instrumentalist who has been around the folk scene since the late 1960s, and his early influences include the Spinners, the Oldham Tinkers, John Kirkpatrick and many others… a natural entertainer and skilled musician, he can take you from tears of laughter to tears of sadness and back again, even in the same song!

I once – foolishly – tried to count the number of instruments Bernard plays. After 100 I was losing count! And the amazing thing is that he seems to be a virtuoso in all of them!! Ali O'Brien, Director, Saddleworth Festival

With virtuoso performances on accordion, English & Anglo concertina, six & twelve string guitar with fancy tunings and five string banjo and both slow haunting songs 'Sally Free & Easy' & 'Ladybird' and funny chorus songs 'Ball o'Yarn' and 'Slap Bum Tailor'... and my particular favourite guitar instrumental was 'Dallas Rag'.

He arrived at our club long before his audience. The array of three guitars, two concertinas, accordion, and an assorted percussion/harmonica contraption had me looking for his support group. Naaaaaa. It was all Bernard's.Jean Finney, Ring O'Bells Folk Club, Widnes

From humble beginnings, this band rapidly became a force to be reckoned with! To find out more about these icons of folk, visit their website! Oh, and don't forget they're playing for this year's Festival Ceilidh!

Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer have been playing music together for over 10 years.

Vicki's unique style of playing the Scottish Smallpipes, along with flute, nyckelharpa and double bass, is spell-bindingly beautiful, haunting and perfectly compliments Jonny's driving guitar playing. Jonny is a composer and competition-winning guitar player, has outstanding technical ability, coupled with a wide-ranging musical taste and a tireless and forceful musical innovator. Jonny has been singing choral music, soul, jazz and folk for as long as he can remember.

Strong believers in letting music live and breathe, they allow the melody to sing without any constraints. Constantly seeking new harmonic pathways they help to keep pipe music alive and growing. Come along and hear them, you will be delighted.

Bob Fox - from his home in County Durham, Bob's performance is deeply influenced by the working class culture and industrial folk song of that area.

A professional folk singer since 1975 and during his career has released several award winning recordings starting with a vinyl album voted Melody Maker's Folk Album of the year called Nowt So Good'll Pass and more recently in 2002 and 2003 he was nominated Best Folk Singer in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Bob was nominated for Best traditional song and Best original song for his arrangements of the traditional song Here's the tender coming and Chris Leslie's My love is in America.

...as soon as I heard him sing I realised that Bob Fox must have one of the best voices in England, he is an artist of great ability and integrity. Ralph McTell

Blessed with one of the best voices in British Folk Music today and coupled with astonishing guitar technique, Bob Fox performs pure and unadulterated folk music at its finest. Australian National Folk Festival

Long standing Lymm Folk Club members may remember Bob once did a floor spot at the Railway - he was acting as Vin Garbutt's chauffeur for the evening!

Winner of last year's Songwriting Competition...

What is a 'Big Spot'? Performers are asked to do an extended spot after the beer break on a Singers' Night.

Chris While & Julie Matthews are both brilliant individual writers, but it's when they combine their writing talents that the unique nature of their partnership flourishes. They are world renowned for their affinity on stage and for their energy and enthusiasm of their live performances.

Seven times nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in the Best Duo, Best Song & Best Live Act categories.

They are two of my favourite singer songwriters in the whole wide world! Beth Nielsen-Chapman (they're Stewart Lever's favourite duo too - guess why he's doing support?!!)

Julie plays: guitar, piano, bouzouki, mandolin & harmonica; Chris plays: guitar, banjo, dulcimer & percussion.

Throughout their career they have toured solidly as a duo in the UK, Europe, Africa, North America and Australia (where they have achieved great success and are held in the highest esteem, filling concert halls and headlining festival stages. They've also worked on several musical projects for the BBC including Tales of the Towpath (a radio documentary about the building of the Manchester Ship Canal) and the 2006 Radio Ballads.

They're simply World Class, it just doesn't come any better than that... Chris Leslie of Fairport Convention was heard to say, on his way out of a While & Matthews' concert.

They've delighted the Lymm Festival audiences ever since they first appeared in the big Marquee at the Railway, Heatley in 2005.

So if you've seen them before... see you this time... and if you've never seen them, it'll be a sell-out, so book your tickets quickly.

...music with immense vitality & style!

Kerfuffle played a stunning set at our Festival last year, so inviting them back was an easy decision, as the young traditional quartet won over the audience with a balanced set of songs, tunes and memorable dancing from Hannah James. The young bar staff of the Rugby Club were heard to say, “I've never heard music like it before... it's just so cool!”

Four of the finest young musicians on the folk scene today, Sam Sweeney, Hannah James, Jamie Roberts & Tom Sweeney perform their music with immense vitality and style…drawing their influences from all over Europe and perform a vibrant and inventive live set.

If you didn't see them last time, ask around Lymm, everybody is talking about them!

...and ...get this! Stewart Lever has 15 free tickets for anyone under 15!. Order by texting him on 07919 270 916, the mobile phone line opens at 08:00 on 17 June 09 with one ticket per text.

The biggest surprise of last year's festival!

The Perfectly At Home String Band came together, for the first time, at last year's Festival. They totally surprised everyone, including Lymm Folk & Acoustic Music Club organiser Stewart, as it brought together two acts, Nick & Lin Tysoe and Nelson Peach, who are Club Residents (see below or click the links).

They make a wonderful sound... with Nick Tysoe (vocals, guitar and banjo), Lin Tysoe (vocals, autoharp, mandolin and double bass), Lesley Nelson (vocals, guitar, double bass and harmonica), Rick Nelson (vocals, mandolin and guitar) and Richard Peach (vocals, fiddle, guitar and double bass). The band members have a wide variety of musical backgrounds including playing folk, jazz and blues for the past thirty years.

The band came together through a mutual love of American Old Time music. This music started in the Southern Appalachian mountains, where if you wanted to go out to a dance on a Saturday night you had to make sure at least one of your friends could play an instrument or you had nothing to dance to. With the advent of cheap(ish) radio in the twenties it became popular with a much wider audience.

Basically, it's about everyone having a good time. So come along and enjoy yourself. Foot tapping, clapping and even dancing is allowed.

What a way to end Lymm Folk & Acoustic Music Club's part of the Festival, dancing the evening away!

The Marmalade Band includes Clare Rigby (flute and whistle), Marian Sudbury (violin), Heather Bamforth (guitar and flute), Helen Jocys (Accordian) and Kathie Taylor (flute and whistle).

Gillian Sheill (caller) makes things easy for everyone to dance, and she's most persuasive! If she can't get you up dancing, you must be made of stone!

There won't be any worms this year... because we're in the Methodist Church Hall, just 50 yards from the Spread Eagle. Only those who've been to Festival Ceilidhs in the Railway marquee will know what I'm talking about!