FROM the legendary co-creator of the Bagpuss songs, to the voice on the stunning soundtrack to Guy Ritchie’s forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster, this weekend’s Baring-Gould Folk Weekend in Okehampton promises to be a rare treat for lovers of traditional music in all its forms.

The 18th annual festival in the Dartmoor town, which starts tomorrow (Friday) and runs until Sunday, October 23 could well be the most varied yet, with a deliberate switch by its organisers to showcase more Devon-based singers and musicians as well as established names from across the UK.

The event, organised by Okehampton-based Wren Music, takes place at various venues in the town and includes performances of two concerts created and performed in 2016 by members of some of Wren’s 16 community choirs and orchestras.

Soloists now performing in their own right but who started off in Wren’s groups are also in the festival line-up, together with Wren founders Paul Wilson and Marilyn Tucker, and Wren patron Phil Beer from Show of Hands.

The varied nature of the programme is nowhere better illustrated than in the appearance of Sandra Kerr on one hand and Sam Lee on the other. Sandra, who performed with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in Ewan MacColl’s Critics Group in the 1960s, is best known for co-writing the music and singing some of the songs in children’s TV show, Bagpuss.

Sandra will be rounding off an afternoon of family events at the Charter Hall on the Sunday by leading a family concert. She says of her work on Bagpuss: ‘I am immensely proud to have been involved in this series. Its ecological theme of re-use and recycling is timely and satisfyingly anti-consumerist – and besides which, we had an absolutely hilarious time making the films!’

North London-based singer and song collector Sam is one of the biggest names in traditional music in the UK right now and will be heard in cinemas around the world next year. Sam was asked by film director Guy Ritchie to sing on the soundtrack of his Hollywood movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Due for release in 2017, it stars Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Charles Dance – and David Beckham.

Sam, who’s making a return to the Baring-Gould Festival as one of its biggest fans, is playing one of the Sunday evening slots at the Church Hall and the audience can expect to hear a selection of the songs he has collected from travelling communities across the UK and Ireland. 

Acclaimed fiddle player Tom Kitching and singer Gavin Davenport have performed together at events up and down the country for a number of years but here, they’re scheduled to play solo at various times and venues across the weekend.

For more information on the festival go to the website www.baring-gould.co.uk