Northwich Folk Club celebrated its 30th Anniversary in fine style over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of March. On Friday evening, the club presented a Gala Concert by members past and present. The concert was held at the Harlequin Theatre, Queen St., which has been the club's home for over twenty years. Northwich Folk Club is proud of its wide variety of musical styles and the Gala Concert gave members the opportunity to show off their talents in the main theatre. Several members had formed groups or duos for the occasion and some had composed pieces specially for the 30th Birthday concert. Over 30 musicians performed including some of the founder members of the club.
The celebrations continued on Saturday with a voice workshop by Janet Russell, well-known for the power and versatility of her voice, and a guitar workshop by acclaimed singer-songwriter Steve Tilston. Both these events were well-attended. Those in the voice workshop enjoyed learning harmony singing with Janet, culminating in worthy choral performances of two contrasting pieces. In the guitar workshop, Steve talked about the influences on his guitar playing, demonstrated many techniques and answered questions from the group.
The finale of this special weekend of celebration was a sell-out concert in the Harlequin Theatre featuring Janet, Steve and the very funny Bernard Wrigley who had the audience in stitches with his songs, poems and stories. The evening was full of highlights from Janet's gentle Scottish lullaby to Steve's virtuoso guitar playing, ending up with Bernard's inimitable version of Nellie The Elephant on bass concertina. All three performers entered into the spirit of the Birthday weekend and said they too thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Northwich Folk Club organisers were delighted with the wonderful response to the Birthday events. The club has gone from strength to strength over its 30 years, not only attracting many people to its popular singers' and listeners' nights, but also presenting nationally and internationally renowned artists in concert. Northwich Folk Club has built a reputation for its warm and friendly welcome and, having such solid foundations, the club looks forward to many more years of music and friendship!

Ailsa Booth

Download the 30th Birthday Programme (4.3Mb)