• Events at The Folk

Third Thursday of every month at The Folk Of Gloucester 12-3pm. A session of Folk Songs and Tunes organised by Bill & Rebecca from local duo ReBil. Come and have lunch at the Secret Garden Cafe and join us.

Saffy and Jane Springham are pleased to have started running a monthly Storytelling Café at The Folk. The Café is on every first Thursday of the month from 7pm for ages 14+. There will be invited guest storytellers, music and open mic every month. We want to hear all kinds of storytelling – so whether you enjoy traditional, real life, original works, narrative poems or flash fiction there will be something for everyone! Oral telling and written tales, beginners and experienced performers alike are welcome.

We’d love you to come along and join us at our future dates:
June 1st – two guest tellers Kelly bringing stories from the Romany community and Matt McCall with steampunk fables
July 6th – Open mic special! Led by Saffy and Jane and a surprise teller – bring us your fabulous stories
August 3rd – Summer special – beach hats optional!
September 7th – Storytelling with a local history flavour
October 5th – Guest storytellers - Ominous Folk of Hopeless Maine
November 2nd – Tales for the darkening season – featured teller Fiona Eadie
December 7th – Festive tales of merriment and mirth with a little Christmas “spirit”

Gloucester folk choir, a new community choir for the city of Gloucester. Run by experienced and playful leader Sorrel Wilde. Songs from a variety of traditions, open to all levels of singer. The Choir runs on Thursday evenings from 7pm to 8:30pm during term time. *Open to all Gloucester Folk Choir is a new community choir for Gloucester, based at The Folk of Gloucester. The choir will be based on natural voice principles, there will be no auditions and generally, we will not be using music. The choir will be run by Sorrel Wilde, who also runs the Island Folk Choir in Bristol. Having grown up in Gloucester, Sorrel has relocated here and is working between Glos and Bristol. Sorrel's style of teaching is playful and focussed, she aims to put singers at ease and grow to love their voices and find their innate musicality. You can see more about Sorrel's work on Instagram: @sorrelsings Facebook: Sorrel Wilde community singing or her not-so-up-to-date website: sorrelwildesinging.co.uk The songs will be largely from the British folk tradition, but will also reach further afield and also into the wonderful Natural Voice network repertoire of gorgeous circle songs and seasonal songs. “Sorrel holds space for singing and sound in a way that instantly puts you at ease and connects the whole group. I come away from every session with a warm heart, a big smile and beautiful song arrangements floating through my mind and off my tongue all week. It's magic!” (Freya, choir member) The choir will be lgbtq+ friendly, neurodivergent friendly and as accessible as it can be. Please get in touch if you have any specific needs that we can try to accommodate.  

A time to explore textiles, join our making space to learn, share skills, experiment and explore a variety of materials and techniques. No Previous experience is required. Join us for a relaxing morning of crafting. All Materials will be provided.

Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society (GNS) is the natural history recording organisation for Gloucestershire, UK, recording all of the flora and fauna in the county. The society publishes quarterly newsletters, journals, and annual bird reports, and organises lectures and field meetings. The society was formed in 1948 with the aim of promoting an interest in the varied wildlife of the county. At the same time, it assumed the task of recording the county’s flora and fauna. To assist in this, the society appoints and supports county recorders for all aspects of wildlife. The annual photographic competition was the theme of one of the winter meetings. Members were invited to submit photographs to be exhibited and judged anonymously and independently by Helen & Phil Muggridge, local professional wildlife photographers based in the Forest of Dean. The photographs from the competitions held in 2021 and 2022 are now shown as an exhibition forming part of the celebration of the 75^th Anniversary of the founding of the Society in 1948. This exhibition will be open from the 9^th of November during events at the Folk excluding during the steampunk festival until the 27^th of January 2024.

2 days of merry-making, markets, entertainment and fun. With a saunter through the city and evening entertainment.  

Come and join us at one of our stone carving workshops at The Folk, Gloucester in 2023. Suitable for all levels of skill. The stonemasons Guild boasts a team of talented stonemasons and sculptors, led by Stephen L'Normand our Master stonemason and carver, past master at Windsor Castle, Doges Palace, Venice and The Vatican, Stonemasons will provide expert tuition throughout your full-day course. Whether you’re looking for a day to remember with a piece you carved to take home, to add some new techniques to your sculptors or stonemason's repertoire or learn more about the crafts history while getting the feel for the tools little change over time you’ll find the school’s extensive courses offer just the thing. Choose from topics including relief carving, gargoyles and grotesques, letter cutting, banker work and more. By the end of the day, you’ll be ready to go home and impress your family and friends with your newly acquired skills and knowledge!

Fancy yourself as the next Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell?? The Gloucester Songwriters Circle meets at the Folk of Gloucester on the third Tuesday of the month with the aim of encouraging each other in our songwriting endeavours. Everyone brings something that they are working on and offers it to the group for advice, appreciation, and suggestions. All genres are welcome. An opportunity to try out your work in a very supportive environment. For more information contact glossongs@yahoo.com The entrance is via the back gates.

Expect “initial touches of baroque fusing with modern day folk” (FATEA) as The Finn Collinson Band returns to the stage in 2024. Comprising three of English folk’s leading virtuosos of their respective instruments, they will introduce new material, along with favourites from critically-acclaimed studio albums The Threshold (2022) and Call To Mind (2019). Although fundamentally folk in approach, Finn often draws on elements of early music to sculpt his distinctive sound. Traditional dance tunes meet melodies by the likes of Purcell and Van Eyck, shaken up in striking new arrangements and brought up to date with Finn’s own compositions and trademark recorder style. As RNR observes, Finn “has both the chops and the vision to take his music in many directions”. Joined by two of the genre’s most in-demand musicians, Evan Carson (bodhran, percussion) and Archie Churchill-Moss (accordion, guitar), Finn and his band produce a powerful and pioneering sound. With a respectful eye on the past, but a firm grounding in the present, Finn’s music transcends and defies expectations of both folk and early music, creating a captivating and wonderfully varied live show. Finn is honoured to be part of a growing generation of creative young players on the English folk scene, and is humbly considered one of the genre’s foremost innovators on his chosen instrument of the recorder. Formerly shortlisted for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Finn also performs with the busy ceilidh band Stroma and is in high demand as a session musician, composer and workshop leader. Doors open at 7pm with performance starting at 7:30pm.

JOHNNY COPPIN singer-songwriter “One of the finest voices in the UK” – Q magazine “A gifted songwriter”- Daily Telegraph “Unquestionably at the top of his game” - Acoustic magazine Johnny’s effortless vocals have graced the folk-scene since the emergence of Decameron in the early 1970s. An experienced solo performer, he is a talented songwriter and a fine interpretative singer. Johnny has recorded over fourteen albums including The Winding Stair, Borderland, Edge of Day with writer Laurie Lee, his latest album River of Dreams, and he has just celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the release of Forest & Vale & High Blue Hill – his first album of Gloucestershire songs. Playing guitar and piano, his songs are always melodic and evocative. For many years Johnny toured as a duo with Phil Beer (Show of Hands). He now works solo, in a duo with Paul Burgess (ex John Kirkpatrick Band), and as a trio for an annual Christmas tour with Paul Burgess and Dik Cadbury (ex Steve Hackett, and Decameron). Johnny has performed at many festivals, and venues large and small and for over twenty years he presented an Acoustic Music programme on BBC Local Radio across the West. TV appearances have included his own programme ‘Song of Gloucestershire’ for the BBC, ‘Stars in a Dark Night’ for Channel 4, and ‘Between Two Rivers’ for ITV.

Daniel Kemish Is a true road dog. He is constantly touring Europe and regularly performs more than 150 shows a year all over the world. Daniel is a British citizen and returns to the UK to perform for the first time in over 5 years. This show will be a very special night. Daniel is a prolific singer/songwriter who delivers his songs and stories in a way that you haven't heard before. This is one of the few great artists still doing it the honest way. Daniels latest album "Hard Times" was recorded and produced in Nashville TN in a 100% analogue way. This delivers a quality of recorded sound not often heard in today’s music. Make sure you catch him in our intimate venue whilst you still have the chance. Next time it might have to be a stadium… Doors Open at 7:00pm with performance starting at 7:30pm

  Ric Sanders and Vo Fletcher   Fairport Convention’s Ric Sanders is one of England's most versatile fiddle players, whilst guitarist and vocalist Vo Fletcher has composed, performed and recorded a wide variety of musical styles with artistes as diverse as Nigel Kennedy, Rik Mayall & Fairport Convention.   Over the last ten years or so they’ve reconnected with the music closest to their hearts. It’s music firmly rooted in the blues. They love playing it, and audience feedback from their recent performances have shown just how much people love hearing it. Doors open at 7pm with the performance starting at 7:30pm.  

Coracle brings together the talents, imagination and creativity of three artists with vastly different backgrounds, who have come together through their love of traditional music cut through with experimentation, boldness, humour and risk. Expect ethereal to turn gutsy, passion to be tempered by a good laugh and a tide of improvisation which means no two evenings are ever the same. Be thrilled by the silvern voice of Anna Tam, the free flowing mix of reeds…..clarinets and accordion….cello, nyckelharpa, viola da gamba and hurdy gurdy. With the British folk tradition at its very heart with eddies of contemporary classical and splashes of early music, ebbs and flows, squalls and flurries – each gig is a exhilarating journey of exploration and enjoyment. Paul Hutchinson is a BBC Folk Award Best Live Artist nominee with Belshazzar’s Feast, a much-feted accordion player and teacher. He’s equally at home on the concert stage, playing dance tunes for enthusiastic revellers or running workshops. His previous collaborations with Hoover the Dog, Pagoda Project and The Maniacs produced albums and performances that drew five-star reviews. Karen Wimhust is a clarinet player influenced by traditional, jazz and contemporary classical music. She’s a widely commissioned composer of chamber works; music theatre; theatre and large-scale collaborative productions ranging from the Grimethorpe Brass Band to The Welsh National Opera and the Allegri Quartet. Anna Tam was shortlisted as Fatea’s 2021 Instrumentalist of the Year, adds nyckelharpa, viola da gamba, hurdy gurdy and cello alongside a “gin pure” voice. With a background in classical music and a spell as a Mediaeval Baebe, her move towards folk with her debut album Anchoress, which brought her widespread acclaim. Her second album “Hatching Hares” will be released in June this year. Doors Open at 7pm and the performance starts at 7:30pm.

You will go a long way to find a more entertaining and engaging folk singer than Antony John Clarke. He has his own unique style of modern folk songs with words that conjure up pictures of life, painted with humour and a not insignificant touch of the old blarney. Belfast born Anthony John is recognised as one of the top songwriters on the acoustic/ folk scene, 12 albums and 3 singles including the beautiful “Seven in Ireland” and “Irish Eyes”. Anthony John enjoys an enormous following in UK, Europe, Australasia and USA. Doors open at 7pm with the performance starting at 7:30pm.