20 Aug 2025,  Roy Palmer Lecture 2025.   Jon Boden ‘The Folk Revival - a view from the middle’. In it he will reflect on the ups and downs of an extraordinary cultural movement and make the case for optimism with the green shoots or revival constantly pushing up through – young singers and musicians who are now the generation below him, and who were born a hundred years after Cecil Sharp heard John England singing ‘The Seeds of Love’. Whitby Folk Week , 12:00, Wednesday 20 August in the Coliseum (1B Victoria Pl, Whitby YO21 1EZ). No charge for admission. More on the website, http://www.roypalmerlecture.org.

18 Oct 2025. TSF Autumn Conference – Gloucester, 18th October:  Folk Songs in the archive – Where can we find them, and are they safe?  See UPDATE 3/6/2025

18 Apr 2026.  Spring Conference 2026 - Manchester
We are excited to say that we have booked the wonderful Portico Library (https://www.theportico.org.uk/) in Manchester for our next Spring Conference 2025, where we will be using the Dome Room. The topic is “Women and Song”. Please save the date - we expect this to be a great event.

A new discussion group list :  Irish-Traditional-Song-Research@groups.io
A moderated discussion group for those interested in research into traditional song in Ireland - the songs, the singers, the styles, the contexts - in English and Irish; functioning primarily as a forum for communication, support, and information exchange, focusing on research rather than performance, and old-style tradition rather than revival or artistic extension.
To subscribe, go to  https://groups.io/g/Irish-Traditional-Song-Research
                   Richard Spencer (TSF Assistant Secretary)  www.tradsong.org

🅄 Wednesday, fortnightly Cornwall PORTHLEVEN AMERICAN OLD TIME SESSION  Facebook: Old Time Music Cornwall

⇒ For up to date session information find us on Facebook as above, or contact David Mepsted on 07940 937335 or davidmando47<at>gmail.com
⊕  Old Time Music Cornwall is dedicated to American Old Time music and Appalachian music events in Cornwall.  We support and promote Old Time sessions, concerts, bands, festivals and dance.  [June 2025, new entry]

⇒ Submissions and contact - editor<at>fash.org.uk   From FASH (Folk Association of South Hants). Download from webpage, or join mailing list for emailed pdfs. 10 issues per year. Deadline: 15th of month before.  Entries free but donations are never refused.

⊕ Details of the next couple of months' dances and folk club events, and in summer, Morris and other dance displays are also included. Adverts and articles. We are always willing to include events. (June 2025, new listing).

ONLINE 🅄 Hampshire ~ FASH (Folk Association of South Hants) https://www.fash.org.uk
⇒ Contact - editor<at>fash.org.uk
⊕ In addition to Solent Waves magazine as above, the FASH website has diaries covering a longer period than each Solent Waves issue, and also lists dance clubs, folk clubs, more informal music sessions, and  local Folk Festivals. Links’ page includes links to local bands and callers.   (June 2025, new listing).

p5 🄵 Newport:  LYCEUM FOLK & ACOUSTIC CLUB
Listing for Thurs 4th Dec 2025. Janie Meneely and Rob van Sante.  For previous dates, see May Folklife West & Club website
www.lyceumfolknewport.org.uk, Ruth:  info<at>lyceumfolknewport.org.uk, 07966 754366,

p10 🄵 Cornwall.   ROB BARRATT, comic poet and singer ~ added some dates since Updates 18/5/2025
August 30th - Staveley Roundhouse, Main St, Staveley, Kendal LA8 9LU. Evening
Sept 3rd - Headgate Theatre, 14 Chapel St N, Colchester CO2 7AT Essex. Evening.
Sept 4th - Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft. 19-75 Morton Rd, Pakefield, Lowestoft NR33 0JH. Evening.
Sept 5th - Thimblemill Library, Thimblemill Rd, Smethwick, Birmingham. B67 5RJ. Evening.

      I’m booked along with Sheena Wellington, Paddy Buchanan and Denis McGonigle as Tradition Bearers at Stonehaven Festival in Scotland 10 - 13 July. The Tradition Bearers Concert takes place on the Sunday afternoon 13.00 - 16.00pm.
     The next performance of Mick Ryan’s The Innocent (see May issue)  is taking place at Branksome Folk Festival on Saturday 18 October at 6.45 - 8.00pm.    Best wishes, Rosie

2nd & 4th Sundays , Music starts 8pm.  Stanton Hall, Charlton Kings GL53 8AR.  Open nights — audience performers. Guests perform 30-45 minutes. 

June 22 Thomas Owen - British and American folk songs played in traditional styles on the 5-string banjo and guitar. 

July 13 Shanties — Chris BeaumontJoin in with rousing, rhythmic singing 

July 27 tba Email list machteltje<at>gmail.com, 01242 571185/577506   Facebook: Cheltenham Folk Club

Alan Franklin's review.
On June 6th, talented sisters Ruth and Sadie Price were accompanied on the harp by Lisa Oliver and they gave the audience at the Black Diamond club a very entertaining evening. Quite a few of their songs were influenced by their parents; Bill and Wendy Price who spent some time in Canada and later returned to run a folk club in Yorkshire. The sisters also perform with the female group called She Shanties.

ØØ • Zoom & Live ~ Mass, BOSTON. ~ LYNN NOEL https://sites.google.com/view/crosscurrents-music  

and ZOOM: LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN   Zoom meeting links are MAILING LIST ONLY. Join this mailing list at http://mailinglist.mermaidstavern.com Monthly Zoom sessions usually 1st Sundays 2-4pm ET, special events as the occasion requires.   

Sun Sept 14 at 2 PM - Gathering Time - Trio harmony in the spirit of the folk revival with strong originals, too.
Sun Oct 12 at 2 PM - James Gordon - Canadian singer-songwriter with a varied career and former songwriter and founder of Tamarack.
Sun Nov 9 at 2 PM - Clements Brothers - Young Americana duo with a hint of a bluegrassy jazzy feel and twin-brotherly harmonies.
There are sometimes live sing-arounds - contact us if you will be traveling nearby.
www.valleyfolk.org, info<at>valleyfolk.org, +1 (607) 962-4461

TSF Autumn Conference – Gloucester, 18th October 2025 - CALL FOR PAPERS
Folk Songs in the archive – Where can we find them, and are they safe?
       When the Traditional Song Forum was formed in January 1998 the key topic of discussion was how we could make the many different archives of traditional song more available to researchers. In the years since, much has happened to achieve that goal, a lot of it down to work that TSF members have played a key role in. We now have some wonderful archives created by organisations, particularly the wonderful archive of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, but a lot of other archives are not as easily available and there are several archives owned by individuals which have an uncertain future. There have also been technical issues, such as those affecting the British Library and the Bodleian Broadside Archive, that have, unexpectedly, made material unavailable.
     It has become clear that the three fundamental elements in archiving - Make it safe, Make it useable, Make it accessible – can never be taken for granted, and need continuous revision and monitoring. Institutional priorities and resources change, technology goes out of date, websites appear and disappear, search engines are re-designed. Many existing collections need to be processed, and personal collections need to be identified, and their survival ensured. it is up to us, as creators and primary users, to use our expert knowledge and whatever power we can muster, to maintain, support and monitor our essential materials.
      We are planning to examine these issues at a full day in-person conference in Gloucester on 18 October 2025. The venue will be the Dunrossil Centre at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub, Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW. The Heritage Hub is conveniently located for public transport and has ample free car parking for attendees. We are now seeking offers of papers on topics relevant to the issues associated with safeguarding our archives for the future. This will be an in-person meeting but we will be accepting pre-recorded papers from those unable to attend. The timing for the papers will be 20 minutes plus time for questions. The closing date for submissions will be Monday 4 August 2025.
If you would like to submit a paper or short report, please contact Steve Roud steveroud<at>gmail.com

Spring Conference 2026
Planning is underway for an in-person conference in the Spring next year, probably in Northern England, with the topic of “Women in Folk Song”. More details to be announced shortly. 

Latest volume from The Ballad Partners
      Ballad Partners are delighted to announce our newest book, Collectomania! Revisiting the Folk Song Collectors. This collection includes ten papers from the major Collectomania conference organised by the Traditional Song Forum and the English Folk Dance and Song Society, held in London in 2024. It includes the keynote papers from Brian Peters on Cecil Sharp and Martin Graebe on Baring-Gould. Visit our store to get your copy today: www.TheBalladPartners.co.uk

Worcestershire-based
🄵 Worcs The ORCHARD BAND www.orchardband.net
⇒ Ian Craigan, 07879 033823,  ian<at>iancraigan.plus.com

⊕ A high octane mix of tuneful, soulful and sing-along-ful material, ideal for outdoors entertaining, indoors listening or energetic dancing. Good music for good times – bringing you the pick of the crop with a heady mix of folk, jazz & roots!   [May 2025, new listing]

⇒ Contact details: Jan Vaisey, 07979 424897,   jan.vaisey<at>btinternet.com

⇒ Email: rodpenlington<at>aol.com, gillbowmer<at>aol.com

⊕ With founder Rod Penlington, on guitar, and Flash (AKA Les Griffiths) more vocals. Rod is very well known for powerful sea shanties, traditional and contemporary ballads and humorous songs, and Flash is a well known character on the folk scene.   [May 2025, new members]

🄵 Worcs The ORCHARD BAND www.orchardband.net
⇒ Ian Craigan, 07879 033823, ian<at>iancraigan.plus.com
⊕ A high octane mix of tuneful, soulful and sing-along-ful material, ideal for outdoors entertaining, indoors listening or energetic dancing. Good music for good times – bringing you the pick of the crop with a heady mix of folk, jazz & roots!   [May 2025, new listing]

⇒ Contact Danny Sullivan, dannysullivan4<at>yahoo.com

⊕ Irish & Celtic Music in the Grand Strand.  Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.    (2025 May, new listing)

From: Maggi Huyton, 30 May 2025
Dear All
Sadly, John Bartley (Monologue John), a regular at our Zoom sessions, was found dead at home by his carer on Tuesday morning.
John will be much missed by us all and the folk world will be the poorer without his extensive knowledge and recitations.
Rest in peace John - Zoom won’t be the same without you.
Maggi and Mark  (Room at the Top Folk Club / Zoom at the Top)

       John was a well-known and entertaining figure seen on many UK Zooms.

       The “Grand Strand” of South Carolina (the coast from historic Georgetown to the North Carolina border) is somewhat lacking in a traditional music scene. Charleston has more musical variety; the barn jams at Awendaw Green (www.awendawgreen.com/barn-jams.html) have some local and touring folk acts. The further towards the mountains you go, the more traditional music you can hear. Places like Hagood Mill (https://visithagoodmill.com/third-saturday-events/) offer folk and bluegrass jams and performances. 

1st Tuesday The Union Inn - Tremadog 8.00pm ~ Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec
2nd Tuesday The Ship Aground - Talsarnau 8.30pm ~ Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec
2nd Sunday The Union Inn - Tremadog 3pm ~ All year round
3rd Tuesday The Prince of Wales - Criccieth 8.30pm ~ Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec
4th Tuesday Spooners - Porthmadog 5pm ~ Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec
4th Friday Tyddn Llwyn - Porthmadog 5pm ~ Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep
5th Tuesday Black Rock Beach Club - Morfa Bychan 8.30pm ~ Apr,Jul,Sep

The Travelling Session.   Contact 01766 514 811  email: via website, https://musicbars.co.uk ;     www.facebook.com/groups/tremadogmusic

As always on the first Saturday in July, Shrewsbury Morris host a day of dance, music, song, colour and movement in the wonderful setting of The Square in Shrewsbury town centre. Joining Shrewsbury Morris will be scintillating toe tapping routines from Raise the Dust Appalachian Dancers plus a stunning performance from the very talented young students from Identity School of Dance. Keeping a watchful eye will be the unmissable figure of Septimus the Giant Shrewsbury Cobbler. The merriment will begin at 10.00am and continue throughout the day as performances rotate between the various acts. As always, a free event delighting families, local residents and visitors to Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury Morris dance a mix of stick clashing, garland, clogging and morris dancing. Listen to the bells and watch out for their colourful moves. Who knows you might even be tempted to join them! 

     More information about the day can be obtained from our website www.shrewsburymorris.co.uk via X @shrewsmorris or from us using bev.langton<at>talk21.com

Friday 11th April.  Bob and Gill Berry . Another well attended guest night at the Black Diamond, We welcomed back Bob and Gilll Berry , who were the main organisers of Chippenham Folk festival for a number of years. They performed a variety of songs mainly from the Wiltshire area. Quite a few of the songs were from The Alfred William collection. Bob mentioned that many of the songs he sings were influenced by his parents, Len and Barbara Berry. A lively night, with plenty of opportunities to join in the choruses. 

Friday May 9th. Saw a full house as the Black Diamond welcomed Bob Fox as our guest for the evening, and it lived up to be a fantastic night of music and song. He sang a variety of songs from various projects in which he has been involved including Radio ballads, Pitmen Poets and Warhorse the Musical. Quite a few of his songs originated from the north eastern area of U K from where he was born.     Alan Franklin

Tuesday 1st July:  free, poetry evening, for the Ledbury Poetry Festival, as every year on the Tuesday.  Stimulating poetry and song!  Cafe food & drink is available.  

🄵  Traditional Song Forum - from the TSF Newsletter 128, May 2025
• Next Online Meeting – Sunday 1st June 2025 16:00 GMT/UTC+1    ~ two presentations in this month's meeting.
            Understanding It Better: Spiritual and Gospel in two “By and By” songs - Patience Young
          Transitions from spiritual to gospel, from folk song to hymn, can be pieced together with two songs found in the work of Henry (“Harry”) Thacker Burleigh and of Charles Albert Tindley. Burleigh (1866-1949), a singer and composer of classical music, was known also for his published arrangements of American spirituals that had been passed down orally within African American communities for generations. Tindley (1851-1933) was a Methodist minister and community leader who wrote dozens of hymns. Both men were famed and influential. While the spiritual “By an’ By” arranged by Burleigh shares theme and a partial title with Tindley’s composed gospel “We Will Understand It Better By and By”, these songs reflect two distinct aspects of African American cultural history.
          Kent Trad: Songs sung in Kent - Andy Turner
         An overview of the Kent Trad website (https://kenttrad.org) which was launched earlier this year. Inspired by sites such as GlosTrad and Sussex Traditions, it aims to become a comprehensive resource on songs and singers from Kent. Currently the site mainly covers songs noted on paper: from ballads collected by an 18th century country parson; through Sharp and his contemporaries; to Francis Collinson of ‘Country Magazine’ fame in the 1940s. Work is now underway on songs recorded by later collectors such as Peter Kennedy, Ken Stubbs, Stephen Sedley and Mike Yates. Andy was brought up in Kent and has long had an interest in songs from Kent, both as a performer and a researcher.

       Note that following a request from Zoom, for security reasons, Zoom links will now only be available from TSF directly.
         Joining the meeting - please see the ‘Meetings’ page of the TSF website – www.tradsong.org

• TSF Spring Conference, ‘Song and a Sense of Place’ was held on 26 April 2025 with the support of the Contemporary Folklore Research Centre. This was an in-person event, though three of the presentations had been recorded beforehand. More than forty people booked places and it was a very enjoyable day with lots of time for networking and discussion among those who attended. Videos of all the presentations are now available on YouTube. You can find the playlist of the four sessions using this link - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEFtLCJWnIFZ6_pqD1SUp5UlNRR2eozWa
• Roy Palmer Lecture 2025 -  This year’s Roy Palmer Lecture will be by Jon Boden. 

     The title of Jon’s talk will be 'The Folk Revival - a view from the middle’. In it he will reflect on the ups and downs of an extraordinary cultural movement and make the case for optimism with the green shoots or revival constantly pushing up through – young singers and musicians who are now the generation below him, and who were born a hundred years after Cecil Sharp heard John England singing ‘The Seeds of Love’.   The talk will, again, be given during the Whitby Folk Week, and we are indebted to the organisers for their continued support for the Roy Palmer Lecture. The event will be held on 12:00 on Wednesday 20 August in the Coliseum (1B Victoria Pl, Whitby YO21 1EZ). There will be no charge for admission.
You can see more about Jon’s talk, and about past Roy Palmer Lectures, on the website, http://www.roypalmerlecture.org.

⇒ Message 07436 588982, Email: penlington.sian55<at>gmail.com,  Instagram/Facebook @sianrobbluegrass

⊕ Lively Old-Time country and early Bluegrass, gorgeous harmonies and skilled interpretations of songs and tunes calling on their own Scots-Irish roots.
These Purbeck Rising 2025 finalists deliver an authentic sound driven by guitars, mandolin, clawhammer banjo and percussive step dancing.  [May 2025, new members]

June 20th to 22nd - West Somerset Folk Festival, Carhampton, near Minehead. ​​

June 27th - Crediton Arts Centre, East St, Crediton EX17 3AX. Evening.​

July 3rd - Bideford Folk Club, Joiners Arms, Market Place, Bideford, EX39 2DR. 7pm.​

July 10th - The Two Robbies Ride Again. Robert Garnham and Rob Barratt at The Acorn Theatre, Penzance, 7.30pm.​

July 11th to 13th - Folk on the Lawn Festival, Tintern, South Wales.​

July 24th - Cellar Arts Club, 70 Marine Parade, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 3QB. 7.30pm.​​

ØØ • Zoom & Live ~ Mass, BOSTON. ~ LYNN NOEL https://sites.google.com/view/crosscurrents-music  

and ZOOM: LIVE FROM THE MERMAID'S TAVERN   Zoom meeting links are MAILING LIST ONLY. Join this mailing list at http://mailinglist.mermaidstavern.com Monthly Zoom sessions usually 1st Sundays 2-4pm ET, special events as the occasion requires.   

• LIVE - VALLEY FOLK MUSIC CONCERTS 144 Cedar Street Corning, NY (corner 1st St.) in the red brick Methodist Church. Buy tickets online on websiteor at the door. For more information visit our website, or contact us: (1) 607-962-4461, or info<at>valleyfolk.org 

Sing-around in Elmira on Sunday June 15 cancelled due to it being Father’s Day. Let me know if you are interested in attending one at a private residence instead - we might decide to do that if there are a core of people who want to attend.
Sun Sept 14 at 2 PM - Gathering Time - Trio harmony in the spirit of the folk revival with strong originals, too.
Sun Oct 12 at 2 PM - James Gordon - Canadian singer-songwriter known for writing wonderful songs for Tamarack.
Sun Nov 9 at 2 PM - Clements Brothers - Young Americana duo with a hint of a bluegrassy jazzy feel and brotherly harmonies.