THANKS to everyone who supported the Norma Waterson benefit concert at The Sage last week.

For us performers it was something of an all-day party, with a lot of interaction between singers and musicians who normally wouldn’t get a chance to spend so much time together, and judging by the reaction of the audience, it all came together in a memorable evening’s entertainment.

It also highlighted a need for more serious consideration regarding the welfare of other folk musicians who may suddenly find themselves unable to keep working in a profession that rarely reaps the financial benefits of other more lucrative musical genres.

We do, of course, benefit in many other ways, such is the mutually supportive nature of the folk scene, but there’s food for thought there nevertheless.

Looking around the local scene this week, highlights include a choice tonight between Judy Dinning and Kenny Spiers at Darlington Arts Centre and Celtic band Beoga at Newcastle’s Irish Centre.

Saturday brings Billy Mitchell to Washington’s Davy Lamp, and a charity show for Bullerwick Children’s Hospice at St Francis Parish Hall in Acklam, featuring Flossie Malavialle. American singer Jeff Warner continues his tour of the locality with a night at Stockton’s Sun Inn, on Monday. A fine venue to experience a gig by Jeff, I reckon, and then, on Wednesday, we can choose between Marie Little at The Pot and Glass in Eaglescliffe, and The John Wrightson Band at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, with Judith Haswell in fine support.

Finally, news reaches me that Sunderland will be having its own folk festival at the end of August, arranged by the guiding hands of those good people at Washington’s Davy Lamp. I’ll bring you more details of the line-up and venues as soon as I get them, so watch this space.