WHITBY Folk Festival is rattling merrily along as I write, and since the new management took over last year, it has a renewed vigour and sparkiness about it.

There's a mammoth guest list, a healthy mixture of old stalwarts, bright young things, first timers and long-standing regulars, including the likes of Spiers and Boden, Tich Frier, John Kirkpatrick, Strawhead, Eliza Carthy, Johnny Handle, Devil's Interval, Tom McConville, and trillions more.

As usual, there'll be as much action in the pubs and streets as in the formal concert venues, so follow the crowds across the moors and have a bag of chips for me.

The folk festival season is going out with a bang, with biggies like Towersey and Shrewsbury (which is where I'll be) this weekend, after which the club season will be getting back into gear, with lots of top names due to visit the area in the coming months, so watch this space.

Finally, it's best wishes for the future to the area's answer to Gilbert and Sullivan, the fabulous Nebula, who are going their separate ways after three decades entertaining local audiences across the North.

Hutch will be taking the band ever onwards with a new line-up, while Rowley will be continuing in his role as an all-round folk man-on-the-spot at concerts and events around the place. Watch out for them and for all the other folk action coming our way.