Davy Lamp Folk Club celebrates 40 years of Saturday night extravaganzas

Awarded the BBC award for Folk Club of the year in 2001, and the nurturing ground for many of the region’s brightest folk stars, it retains its position as one of the country’s leading folk venues, and resident group Back Shift and all the regulars will be celebrating in style no doubt, so get there very early if you want to join in.

Down in York this weekend, The Black Horse will be the centre for the annual folk weekend, featuring exclusively local acts that frequent the weekly club down there. Such is the standard of the York scene that they feel no need for star guests and top names, and there’s always a great vibe to this event.

Over in Robin Hood’s Bay, meanwhile, there’s a weekend of free sessions and singarounds going on, so if you can cope with that steep hill, it should be an enjoyable few days in lovely surroundings. Elsewhere, Canadian band The Bills, are at Gateshead’s Sage tonight. This is a rare visit to the UK for them and their infectious brand of folk rock and quirky material is well-worth catching.

Friday brings Rory MacLeod is at La Rosa Hotel in Whitby, and Tom McConville to the Ouseburn Farm in Byker while on Sunday songwriter Anna Shannon is at South Shields Customs House. For anyone who can spare the sleep, there’s a 24-hour folk session at Gateshead’s Sage on Saturday.

This is a fund-raising event, and it will also be monitored by the Guinness Book of Records in the hope that some sort of new record might be set. The youthful enthusiasm of the legion of players and singers involved should no doubt carry them through the wee hours and I’m sure a fine time will be had by all.