Tuesday 6 December 2011

News Archive

14th October 2012
After much soul searching and discussions with Dave & Dave, Ged has decided that the 2012 Festival will be the last.

All 30 festivals have been a gathering of old friends and new over the years - a shared experience to continue the tradition of enjoying many forms of Folk and Blues, bringing a great mix of musical appreciation.  Ged, Dave and Dave with the welcome help of many of you still involved with Swinton and others are who are sadly no longer with us enabled Swinton Folk Festival to grow into a weekend of great main guests including all of the big names in the folk world, lively Ceildihs, Morris Teams and Craft Fair.

After the council in their wisdom decided to close our venue in the Elizabethan Suite the festival continued on a smaller scale at the White Lion, home of the Swinton Folk Club and has continued to welcome folk and blues followers to share in the friendly sessions and concerts.

You will, of course, know that it has not been an easy decision for Ged to make and he will continue with Swinton Folk Club every Monday.
We hope everyone will do their best to support the festival this year to make it a great farewell.
You will notice from the update below that Staff Folk are the supporting artists - this is their 40th Anniversary as a duo.


21st February  2012
Coming up in April is the Sea Shanty Festival, at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port.  It runs from the 6th to the 8th and sounds like it's going to be great fun.  Tickets are only £6; you can buy them here.

In other news, Peter Rimmer from the Bothy Folk Club in Southport has been campaigning to keep local radio alive in view of the proposed BBC cuts to the schedules.  He has written to his MP ; if you feel strongly about keeping Lancashire and Manchester local radio in the present format, contact your MP and add your voice.

19th December 2011
Very, very sadly we have to announce that our old friend Johnny Silvo passed away last night.  He will be greatly missed.

I'll be setting up 'In Memoriam' page in due course; if anyone has any fond memories of Johnny they'd like to share, please email me at sbestwick2002 at yahoo dot co dot uk.

RIP, Johnny.




8th December 2011
It's with great sadness that we have to announce our old friend Johnny Silvo is suffering from cancer.  According to his agency website, there's no prospect of recovery.

Johnny is a very old friend of Swinton Folk Club and has played here for many years.  As well as a truly amazing musician and vocalist and a marvellous entertainer, he's an enormously likeable and well-liked man that many members of the Club count as a personal friend.

Johnny isn't able to accept phone calls but welcomes any messages of support.  For those of you on Facebook, there's a group dedicated to him here which you can join to leave a message to him.

Our thoughts are with Johnny and his loved ones at this time.


6th December 2011
 Pete Ryder will be playing the White Lion on Friday 9th December, supported by the Thomas Family- Dai, Barbara and their son Joe.  If you enjoy your blues, this will be well worth seeing.