What began more than two decades ago as the one-day ‘Youth Folk Arts Festival’ has grown into a four-day spectacular co-production between Folkworks at The Sage Gateshead and Hexham’s Queen’s Hall.
The music started in Stocksfield on the Thursday night and didn’t stop until the Sunday.
Organiser Chris Pentney, former head of the Folkworks programme at The Sage and now a freelance, said it was a fantastic weekend.
“It’s great to see people passing the music on through the generations. Seeing that in action is quite magical and it makes you realise the future of folk music is safe in the hands of the younger generation.”
It was standing room only at Stocksfield Community Centre for headline artists the Rachel Hamer Band, who played with support from the Stocksfield Stompers, Last Night’s Rain and a performance of local songs by Broomley First School’s year 3.
Friday saw three concerts across the district. Visitors to Tarset Village Hall were treated to sparkling fiddle trio King Cole, again with support from local folk musicians, this time whistle player Declan Gorman and the Reely Ceol ceilidh band.
Allendale Village Hall featured Talisk, one of the fastest rising bands on the British folk scene and BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award winners for 2015.
The Hearth at Horsley also hosted Chris Meredith and Watchtone.
Last Saturday saw Hexham town centre come alive with performances throughout the town, plus ceilidhs at the bandstand and at Wentworth Leisure Centre.
A total of more than 150 young musicians took part and members of the public enjoyed joining in with the dancing.
Chris said: “We were absolutely delighted to be playing in the wonderfully-refurbished bandstand. It really enlivened the performance.”
A brief shower of rain saw the musicians transfer into Trinity Methodist Church Hall, but the sun was soon out again and they were able to move back outside.
The festival concert at Queen’s Hall featured four stunning fiddle players known as RANT playing reels, strathspeys and jigs, plus a rare performance by Queen Elizabeth High School musicians of Alistair Anderson’s Hidden Hexham to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Beaumont Street.
Sunday saw workshops led by two former members of the band Folkestra, Frankie Archer and Karl Taylor.
“They had recently been to an international folk camp called Ethno India in New Delhi with funding from Arts Council England, and they shared Portuguese and Indian songs they had brought back to the UK,” Chris said. “That gave us something really different - an international flavour we had not offered before.”
In the afternoon, the Barnard Castle folk group Cream Tees joined 4th Generation, the Queen’s Hall resident youth band, toperform Rooted – A Teesdale Suite.
And back out in the sunshine, the traditional closing event of the weekend, the Gig in the Park, was led by Joel Savoy, Jesse Lége and the Cajun Country Revival.
“That was a chance for everyone just to sit back and relax and hear traditional music from these American roots musicians,” said Chris.
This year’s Gathering was held a little earlier, but Chris said it would probably move back to the bank holiday weekend in 2017.
“We moved away from the bank holiday, as schools have often said it’s a problem because it’s traditionally the weekend of half term.
“So we tried to move it away this year, but what we found was a lot of the young people have exams either side of this weekend, so in the future we will look to go back to it’s traditional bank holiday slot.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here