Review: Hartlepool Folk Festival

Making great use of the Headland’s cosy pubs and historic churches the festival offered a fantastic cornucopia of folk music, dance and workshops.

Friday offered Bob Fischer: Worms, Witches and Boggarts, a very entertaining talk on local folklore and myths in St Hilda’s Church.

The Cosmopolitan pub hosted a fiddle-players session to complement it’s excellent beer festival while The Pot House roared to raucous sea shantys of 3 Sheets To The Wind.

The New Rope String Band delivered a Vaudevillian set of great music and banter at St Hilda’s, while local lad Paul Mosley debuted material from his new album The Butcher in a great set with his Red Meat Orchestra at St Mary’s Church, before the night finished with a sing-a-long at the Fisherman’s Arms.

Saturday saw a wide range of talks, dancing and workshops during the day while on the evening St Hilda’s hosted Come All Ye Bold Miners, an excellent performance of local mining communities in song with a myriad of acts including Dick Gaughan, The Wilsons and the Durham Miners Association Brass Band, and the highlight of the weekend.

A Pindrop special at the Baptist Church featured the likes of Martha Cook, the punk-folk of Driven Serious and the superb harmonies of Moses before once again seeing the evening out with the hospitality of The Fisherman’s Arms.

Sunday once again offered a great of range of talks, dancing and workshops - including innovative clog dancer Jig Doll - during the day while the delightful Sandra Kerr was in conversation about her contribution to the great folk songs of TV show Bagpuss at the Duke Of Cleveland pub.

Alistair Anderson’s A Lindisfarne Gospel filled St Hilda’s while Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra brought their North Eastern swing to St Mary’s Church.

Ending the fest was folk royalty in the shape of legndary duo singer Martin Carthy and fiddler Dave Swarbrick before closing the weekend at The ‘Fish’ once again. Hats off to the festival organisers for this fantastic event for the Headland and the town, roll on next year!

- by Ian Monaghan