THIS is the last folk column for the year, and in looking back over the past 12 months, it’s been the usual mixture of highs and lows for the local folk music scene.

The lows have obviously been the sad loss of several luminaries and stalwarts who had helped establish the North-East as one of the most vibrant folk music centres in the country, but equally, the highs have been seeing how the interest in this music just continues to grow.

New festivals, new performers, and new small venues have popped up with encouraging regularity in the last twelve months, and the same can be said of folk music the world over.

What was once seen as a bizarre minority interest, has grown to become a mainstream attraction. Everyone - small clubs, large halls, amateurs and professionals alike, have played a part in this, and it will be fascinating to see how things stand a year from now.

Meanwhile, things are slowing down for the Christmas break hereabouts, though I find myself particularly busy in the weeks ahead, with an appearance for my Bad Pennies Christmas show at Cramlington Concordia on Saturday, and a concert at the Normanby Hotel in Middlesbrough next Monday, where my old mate Pete Davies will also be on the bill. Gateshead’s Sage has Chris Newman and Maire Ni Chathasaig next Tuesday, and tickets are still available for our Christmas show at Gateshead’s Sage on December 27 and for the New Rope String Band’s New Year Eve Show at the Sage.

There’s quite a few Christmas ceilidh dances happening too, notable at Yarm Fellowship Hall on Friday, and at St Mary’s Community Centre in Cockerton on New Year’s Eve.

I’ll be at jez@jezlowe.com for all your news and views for next year, so please get in touch.