Winchester Community Choir at the MAYfest with Freya leading

Chris & Siobhan Nelson (Evening Concert)
Now living in Southport, Chris (fiddle, mandola, voice) and Siobhan (fine voice) were (and still are) familiar faces in this area performing for 20 years with The Cluster of Nuts Band and The New St George (among others) as well as being long-time members of Loose Screws Appalachian Dancers and String Band along with Barry Wake, with whom they now work occasionally as the trio Nelsons Wake.  Last here at 2004 Solent Folk Festival, they perform mainly contemporary British and some American songs (sometimes a cappella), ranging from haunting ballads to old-timey by such diverse writers as Sandy Denny and Mark Knopfler.

Since they moved 'Up North' Siobhan, with her really beautiful voice, has revived her singing career. They perform a mixture of material, traditional, self-penned and including several of Barry Wake's most popular compositions.

As they say on their own website: "Chris and Siobhan Nelson have been performing music together for more than 20 years, having first got together when they were members of The Cluster of Nuts Band in the 1980s. They are now carving out a reputation as a duo, and are equally at home in an intimate, acoustic setting or on the 'big stage'. They have a varied and growing repertoire of contemporary and traditional British and American songs, either accompanied by Chris on fiddle, viola or octave mandola or a capella. Their repertoire includes refreshingly original arrangements of songs by a wide range of great writers - from within and outside the folk scene."

Mavis Sawdy (Workshop and Folk Club)
Mavis is a local treasure, long-term friend and associate of  Frankie Armstrong (with whom she shares many common causes, not least that 'anyone can sing'). With long experience in facilitating singers and singing in all kinds of circumstances, her workshop is sure to be a joy. Mavis will also be performing in the Afternoon Folk Club - sample her thrilling rendition of Graeme Miles' song 'Lonely Places' from the Fo'c'sle 2005 Christmas party (400kb mp3 file).

Mavis's singing style has grown out of a shared love of drama and the unaccompanied voice.  

She first started singing in the 60s, while a student at Hull University - and sang in public for the first time at the (then) fledgling Blue Angel Folk Club, run by the Watersons, of whom she remains a great admirer.   In the 70s she met Frankie Armstrong who was then just beginning to pioneer Voice Workshops in the UK after her first visit to America.   Mavis became her first "apprentice" (as well as close friend) and started running her own Voice Workshops in the 80s - not least as an antidote to the demands of parenthood, with 3 children under 3.5 years!   Her work with Frankie Armstrong explored the projected call and response style found in traditional cultures, and her singing benefited from (fortunately) sympathetic audiences at the Springfield Folk club in Brighton where she was a resident singer for 4 years.   She was also a member of the Mandala Theatre Group in London during this time, becoming the lead singer and narrator in 4 of their large, outdoor, community drama productions in London, Liverpool, Leicester and Assisi.

On moving to Hampshire in 1986, Mavis became the Voice Tutor to the students on the BA Drama course at King Alfred's College (now the University of Winchester) for 5 years.   She also sang occasionally at the Fo'c'sle Folk Club in Southampton.   Her creative interests had to go on the back burner when she moved on to "proper" work, but she returned to The Fo'c'sle in 2002, appeared in The Vagina Monologues at The Talking Heads in Southampton in 2004 and made her first CD, Making Life Sing, in 2005.   She also ran a very successful theatre project last year with young people in care in Hampshire, Beyond Care, with her playwright son, Fin Kennedy.

Mavis is now a part-time research student at the University of Winchester in Applied Theatre.   She is delighted to be invited to contribute to the Woolston Folk Festival both as a Voice Workshop leader and a singer.

Bob Askew with Paul Hawkins, Tangle and Ann Barratt (illustrated talk on George Gardiner, the folksong collector, to celebrate the centenary of his Hampshire operations, 12.15-1.15 in the green room)

Bob and Paul have been researching George Gardiner's Hampshire operations, revisiting the scenes and tracing descendants of the original source singers with many local examples covering places like Titchfield, Fareham,  Southampton, Portsmouth and the Test Valley.

Bob (far left) has developed this work into a lively and interesting illustrated talk which captures the imagination of the contemporary listener in a remarkable way, and Paul (pictured left), Tangle and Ann Barratt sing some of the songs along the way. Bob has two talented daughters Emily and Hazel who have contributed to past presentations (eg at Fareham), although they will not be available today - but we do have some more 'Gardiner' songs in the evening in choral arrangements for Winchester Community Choir.


Brian Hooper (Folk Club MC)
Brian is The Fo'c'sle's popular resident MC and regular floor-spotter. As well as being a member of numerous groups over the years, such as Double Cross (with Pete Harris), Cat's Whiskers and Hooper & Fry (with Tony Fry), he has been on the folk scene in Southampton and surrounding areas so long many of us can't remember that far back.

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Dance Teams

Chequered Flag (Appalachian Clog &
Canadian Step Dance)

Chequered Flag are based in Portsmouth, England and will be performing in the Evening Concert as well as during the day. They mainly perform Appalachian and French-Canadian step dances although their repertoire includes other styles including Irish and Scottish. The dances use traditional steps but the choreogaphy is original to Chequered Flag and is the result of much experiment and discussion! Chequered Flag have performed at many Festivals and events and they are well known for their workshops to teach step dancing. Their dance style draws on an ecclectic wealth of experience of the various team members incuding English Clog, Irish, Scottish, Morris, Tap, Contemporary, Ballroom, Latin American and Ballet. They aim to develop dances that are challenging and fun to perform and enjoyable to watch.

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  Wickham Morris

Another well-known local display side with a great track record in entertainment and general feel-good. Rob Mills often plays their fool and dances with them, so he'll be busy today! The picture shows them at Wimborne Folk Festival in 2003 - have a look at our past pictures to see some more.

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  Southern Lights Traditional Dancers

Familiar faces on the local scene, Southern Lights have been gracing Southern display dance for a number of years. You might spot a Festival Organiser!

With a stunning combination of tradition and originality and some equally talented musicians, they always give a lift to the show.

They are also on the lookout for more musicians - anyone interested?

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Sessions and Singarounds

English Session with Gwilym & Carol Davies

Paul Marsh, Gwilym & Carol Davies and Ron Coe ('Rough 'n' Ready') have a project to bring playing and singing back to pubs, old peoples homes, care homes and indeed any old where they can get a foot in the door!

Solent Folk Festival cannot muster the normal group, but Gwilym & Carol (top right) are hoping to bring along brilliant young Bristol fiddler Paul Meager as they did last year and follow the same track: expect an emphasis on 'old favourites' with a few surprises thrown in. With these excellent performers you might just want to sit and listen.



Roots & Blues with

Arnie Cottrell & Friends

Well-known in the area for his vigorous interpretations of blues and roots music (and as the former leader of the 'Midnight Flyers' which included Chris Nelson), Arnie Cottrell's creative juices began flowing when his parents bought him a Tom Lehrer album for his 8th birthday. Since then he has acquired "a lifelong obsession with music of absolutely any kind as long as it stopped the voices" and is walking talking proof of that old Jack-of-all-trades adage (he plays acoustic guitar, resonator or slide guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, lap steel .... anything handy really). When he and Tim and Colm begin to play - aaah, then they begin to weave a spell of pure musical magic and people playing with them get absorbed into it all.

Anything Goes with leaders tba

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Rob Mills Tea-time 'Meet the Artiste' MC with The Mrs Ackroyd Band

Rob Mills has been immersed in traditional songs as far back as he can recall. His father, Bob Mills (Forest Tracks FTC6025), was a well known singer of the old country songs. Having picked up many of his father's songs Rob started singing at social gatherings after his leisure time spent rock-climbing and caving as a young man. With this experience he began to sing in local folk clubs. Since those early days Rob has been in much demand for his fine solo singing and he now includes several of his own songs in his repertoire. He was a member of the Woodfidley dance display team for many years and is currently dancing with Wickham Morris where he is usually called on for a song after the performance. Photo right: at Wickham May Day 2005.

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