This Saturday: Feb 5th - The Tom McConville Big Band

The Newcastle fiddle player, Tom McConville, is one of the leading folk fiddle players of our time. A virtuoso musician and fantastic singer, his rich, warm voice makes his interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs greatly admired by singers throughout the world. He has played on literally hundreds of albums and whilst he has shared stages throughout the world with many big names he has never forgotten his roots in Tyneside.

Watch Tom here:



His big band line-up includes David Newey, Shona Kipling and Phil Murray, whose performances combine a roller coaster of musical delights.

“Scintillating fiddle, a silky smooth tone, a wide grin and a dry Geordie wit.'”

"Tom is a great player, and a terrific singer, he happens to be a number one bloke too." Dave Swarbrick

"This band is quite simply the top of the tree." Mike Harding

Get your tickets here

Local Talent to launch our new season with a musical feast...

Ryedale is brimming with talent so don't miss the chance to enjoy some of it at Helmsley Arts Centre on September 11th at 7.30pm in an evening of live music.

Four Quarters is an acappella harmony quartet: Lynn Sunley & Carolyn Jarvis from Farndale, Rachel Shackleton from Kirkbymoorside and Rob Davies from Malton. They sing an eclectic mix of popular and contemporary songs - jazz, barbershop, duwop, gospel and songs in Creole and Zulu.

Based in Scackleton Holly Cawte specialises in singing Jazz. Her repertoire includes the soulful sounds of Peggy Lee, Cleo Laine, Nina Simone. She will be accompanied on the piano by Ed Osbourne from Malton, who will also entertain us with couple of jazz solos.

Natasha Jones from Kirkbymoorside and Robin Bunton from Appleton-le-Moors sing, play and write songs drawing on soul, blues and jazz, as well as contemporary songwriters, blending styles, vocals and rhythms as they please.

£7 / concs £6 / students £5

Buy now

More good news for Folk at Helmsley!

We said we'd get another Folk Weekend up and running for September, 2010, and that's what we've done - thanks to Kate Bramley.

We are delighted to welcome some wonderful artists to the folk weekend this year- SONY Radio Academy Award Winning songwriter Jez Lowe, 2008 Scots Singer of the Year Emily Smith and 2006 Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year Shona Mooney, as well as from Canada, Juno Award Winning Songwriter James Keelaghan, and BBC Young Folk Finalists 2009 The Carrivick Sisters.

Add to that the soft spoken 'Whisky Bard' songwriter Robin Laing, the delightful Edwina Hayes, the great traditional singer and song collector Steve Gardham and many more wonderful Yorkshire artists, as well as the beautiful setting of the North York Moors, and you'll find it to be an unmissable weekend.

Bring your instruments and voices, walking boots and dancing shoes and join us for a spectacular Helmsley Folk Weekend 2010!

Keep in touch with details on the Helmsley Folk Weekend website.

Good news for the Helmsley Folk Weekend

The Arts Centre Management has regular meetings to discuss how the programmes we present have been going and what we can learn from experience about what to do next.

Recently we shone the spotlight on our (for us) ambitious weekend of folk music in September. We had three nights of events and two whole days' worth of music in the Centre, the town square, the Town Hall and in various local pubs.

For those who came, the weekend was a great success. There was an exciting "buzz" in the air, they said. But, alas, not enough people came and we lost £2,200. And we had no sponsors to help us out. Not good news. So should we give up on an event we've been developing over the past three years?

The answer is a resounding "NO!"

OK, so we've been a bit over ambitious. And there's no doubt the recession is biting us and our customers harder. But the good news is that a couple of people, very experienced in the world of folk events, has offered to help us build the event more solidly in the future.

The Management of the Arts Centre voted unanimously to learn from the experience and get on with organising next year's Weekend of Folk. Which is also a firm endorsement of all the hard work our Deputy Director, Jean Kershaw, has put into organising this event for the past three years. Thank you, Jean.

And a big "thank you" for all those supportive comments we've received from people who enjoyed the weekend this year.....

From Kate Bramley : "The success of the folk weekend in previous years has proved that there is an interest in the music, and the huge amount of local support from musicians and other organisers shows their partner commitment to slowly growing an annual folk event in Helmsley The theatre and town have such a great potential as a host venue and our focus for the future is to make sure the theatre is at the hub of the action, drawing people in to the venue across the weekend for session and concerts as well as general 'bonhomie'."

From Linda Hencher:
"The ceilidh was much enjoyed by all those who attended and everyone was keen to dance. The Town Hall is a really good venue for it. The selection of dances was good and the Jellybeans band was easy to dance to and had an excellent caller. The simple pie and pea supper worked well."

From Richard Abrahall:

"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the Folk Festival, although you must be a little disappointed at the turnout to some of the daytime events.

I went to nearly everything and it was so intimate we got to know each other quite well by the Sunday evening concert.

I do hope that you can do it again next year, but thanks for doing so this autumn."

From Ray Padgett:

"Very many thanks for all your work at Helmsley this year. as organiser. It is not easy getting these things up and running. I wouldn’t bother too much about the ‘fringe’ pub events – use the Arts Centre and use the café bar all to maximum to create revenue and as a stage for musicians and a singaround area………lots of potential here."

From Christine Bishop – Acorn Morris Dancers:

"I would like to say what a good dance spot you gave us as part of the folk weekend (courtesy of RDC!) This spot allowed us to dance properly and safely and also gave the spectators a better view."