Free folk festival at Fleetwood this weekend will raise funds for Trinity Hospice

The event is being staged by Fleetwood Folk Club, one of the longest surviving clubs in the country and which traditionally played a part in the former Fylde Folk Festival, a major event which ran for 40 years and attracted many top folk acts to the town each year.

Self-taught whistle player Jim, who died of cancer aged 66, was a member of Fleetwood Folk Club and he was keen to help raise vital funds for the Bispham-based hospice, where he received care in the last days of his life.

The festival, which is free to attend, will be chiefly hosted by the Mount Hotel pub, on The Esplanade, where the club holds its sessions on Thursday nights.

It takes place at the venue on Friday night at 8.30pm to 11pm and then on Saturday and Sunday at noon until 7pm and then at 8pm until 11pm on both those days.

Club organizer Tony Winstanley said: "After the lockdowns we now have the club up and running successfully again at the Mount Hotel but we wanted to make an extra

effort in our on-going fund raising campaign for Trinity where Jim was a patient."

There is also an afternoon of music on Saturday at the North Albert Street Café in Fleetwood..

Among those taking part during the weekend are singer-songwriter Jon Harvison from West Yorkshire , Martin Williams from St Helens, .the folk band Mail Train from

Wigan, Fleetwood-born Howard Bond and husband and wife team Graham and Bernadette Dixon otherwise known as Trouble At Mill who run the Gregson Lane folk

club near Preston.

There’ll be stories and poems from Fleetwood club stalwart Mike France and singaround sessions where folk fans get their chance on stage.

Tony added: "We want to keep the tradition of a festival in Fleetwood alive and we hope people will drop by, enjoy the free entertainment and drop some cash in the

collecting bucket."