"Come and buy come and buy be ye poor or gentry Gather round the Broadside Man"

John Connolly "The Broadside Man"

Folk roots hero and multi-instrument maestro, Phil Beer, is to headline a fundraising concert in aid of Folk South West, the folk arts development agency for the South West. The concert takes place on Saturday 6 March.
Phil is a masterful solo artist as well as being known for his collaboration with Steve Knightley in the folk roots super group, Show
of Hands. The group has twice headlined sell-out concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Appearing with Phil will be some special guests including Somerset singer/songwriter Reg Meuross.
This special event is being held in Taunton Baptist Church, which has the most superb acoustics, fulfilling Phil Beer’s wish that the concert be unamplified.
The concert, together with other fundraising activities, is helping to address the funding shortfall following the cessation of Folk South West’s core funding from the Arts Council England.

Full details of the event are:

Taunton Baptist Church, Silver Street, Taunton, TA1 3DH

Saturday March 6th 2010. The concert starts at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £10 and £8 concessions. There will be a special raffle.

You are advised to book tickets in advance for this concert.

All ticket enquiries and bookings should be addressed to Geraldine
Clotworthy on 01460 76058
or e-mail: geraldine@clotworthy.co.uk

For the second time, the astoundingly beautiful Isles of Scilly will host some of the country's finest folk musicians.

Cornish superstars Dalla will again be the lynchpin of this friendliest of festivals, packing their extraordinary sound and dance into a container aboard Scillonian III to be unloaded and unleashed on Scilly. They will be joined this year by fellow musicians from cornwall - Leski (a fantastic duo featuring hammered dulcimer virtuoso, Kerensa) and Sarah McQuaid with her stylish voice and extraordinary guitar technique.
The Rough Island Band will perform powerful material from their recent (and forthcoming) cds of music inspired by the Isles of Scilly; and the breathtaking voice of Vivien Ellis with Alva will close out the festival in the evocative candlelit surroundings of Old Town Church, not more than ten banjo-lengths from the sea...
Can a single shipping container hold so much great music?

The festival is also a chance to meet and play with island musicians, and to celebrate the thriving Scillonian folk music scene (a scene that predates the Folk Revival). There will be plenty of sessions, open-mic nights and workshops over a pint or two of Scilly's own locally-brewed ale.

This year, Scilly Folk Festival is overlapping with Walk Scilly (27 mar - 3 april) - the island's annual walking festival. There will be the chance to explore one of the world's most beautiful natural environments under the guidance of experts; to take in Scilly's amazing history, it's flora and fauna and it's extraordinary landscape of rugged coast, soft sand and gorsey downland; and then, when the walking's done, to rest the feet and let the music (and aforementioned ale) go to work....

Practicalities - The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company is kindly offering discounted sea and air tickets to the islands for festival goers. Telephone 08457105555.
The Tourist Information Centre (01720 - 424031) will help with accommodation enquiries.