Rivington Morris are a women’s morris team based in Bolton, Lancashire dancing the North West style. Keen to maintain local dancing traditions they can be seen in carnival processions across the North West and at festivals around the country. They dance collected Lancashire dances, alongside new ones written by team members. Their style is energetic and precise with straight lines our trademark! The band comprises melodeons, accordions, drums, fiddles and whistles. The team started life in 1977 and their kit, based on Ashton town colours, comprises straw boaters, red skirts, white tops, purple sashes and black clogs.

Ruth and Sadie are sisters originally from West Yorkshire and are firm favourites of Whitby Folk Week. Ruth and Sadie have been heavily influenced by the traditional singing of their father Bill Price and his contemporaries on the English folk scene in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Until very recently they have sung together unaccompanied, but have recently been joined by Lisa Oliver who gives some refreshing accompaniments to Ruth and Sadie’s sibling harmonies on the harp. Ruth and Sadie also sing with She Shanties women’s shanty crew.

Godfathers of revival Molly, they come from the treacle mines in deepest darkest Kent and have been surfacing to perform since time immoral. Back in 500BC (Before Cotswold) there was dancing down the mines and the tradition has spanned the generations. The current team have evolved it with energy, precision and humour.

Stanley returns to Whitby to wreak cultural havoc while performing, MC-ing, acting as Quizmaster and anything else that might turn up. He has only written about 1250 songs so is planning some more – eventually one of them will turn out really good! He loves Whitby and its Folk Week, even though he is from Lancashire. Come and help him enjoy it more. (Meanwhile he is wondering what else one can wreak apart from havoc and revenge)

Mike is the artistic director of Blaize, a community arts company. He is a director, actor singer and musician working mainly, though not exclusively, on Blaize projects. He is the lead researcher for the Music at the Heart of Teesdale youth music project. This provides material for the youth bands ‘Cream Tees’ and ‘Wear’d Aliens. He runs regular singing sessions for dementia groups in Barnard Castle and Middleton-in-Teesdale. He was the Arena Theatre Director at the Sidmouth International Festival 1999 – 2004 and Towersey Festival Showground Director 2009 – 2024. He performed with the Fabulous Salami Brothers street theatre act 1979 – 1999 including performing at the World Expo’s in Vancouver 1986 and Brisbane 1988. He plays melodeon and sings with the occasional reunions of folk group Flowers & Frolics. And currently sings in duos with Dan Quinn and Jim Woodland.

Pecsaetan Morris (pronounced “Peck-suh-tan”) are a women’s Cotswold side, formed in 2001 and based in Sheffield. Priding themselves on precise lines, high energy and fabulous music, Pecsaetan are also known for their unusual Bledington hook-legs, and recently added a new tradition (Sherbourne) to their repertoire.

Pete has been a professional musician since 1971, playing at festivals concerts, clubs, dances & schools throughout Britain, Europe, Asia, New Zealand & USA. During the ‘70s he toured and recorded with Chris Coe, was a member of the legendary New Victory Band & with Nic Jones, Tony Rose and again, Chris Coe, he was a member of Bandoggs. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s he toured and recorded with Red Shift but since 1985 he’s mainly worked as a soloist & earned an enviable reputation. His strong, distinctive voice is enhanced by his instrumental versatility, the ringing strings of his bouzouki, the sweet chords of his mountain dulcimer, the plaintive frailing banjo & the pulsing reeds of his melodeon. He’s also a country dance caller, creator & band musician. He sings, plays & step dances, sometimes all at once!

Kevin Sheils came to folk music in the mid 60s at his youth club. Since that time he has been a regular singer and resident at many of London’s top Folk Clubs. He is a regular concert MC at some of the country’s major Folk Festivals, including Whitby, and for the past 20 years has presented the weekly “Traditional Music Hour” radio show on London based Arts Radio Station – ResonanceFM

Lynda and Alan met in the autumn of 1974, and began singing together almost immediately. They were members of The Mountain Ash Band, making a folk-rock album called “The Hermit” in 1975. In the early 1990s Lynda began singing with with Maggie Boyle and Helen Hockenhull as the much-loved vocal trio Grace Notes. Grace Notes ceased to be in November 2014 following Maggie’s untimely and tragic passing.

Alan, meanwhile, played guitar and sang American Old-time with The Sensible Shoestring Band, sang acapella harmony with Inpo, and played for dancing with the Buttered Peas Ceilidh Band.

After nearly 50 years of singing together, Lynda and Alan can see no reason to stop now. As ever, their material consists of a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs, sometimes with guitar accompaniment, and mostly with vocal harmony.

They moved house from Keighley to Whitby early in 2019, expecting to be handy for countless Whitby Folk Weeks. So far there’s just been the one but let’s hope there are many more to come.

Individually and in combination with a variety of well known singers and bands, Lynne and Pat have both served long apprenticeships on the shop floor of folk music. Between them they play guitar, recorder, English concertina, and they list harmony and spoons workshops in their hall of fame. They are not in the least averse to dressing up or dancing when a song requires it but they both agree that their voices are their most important instruments. Their style stretches from the tradition through humorous, music hall, contemporary and self-penned material and their resulting style is a unique blend of stunning song and harmony, and a humour which takes their audience on a roller coaster ride – “Everything from high tragedy to ingenious smut in glorious vocal harmony!”

Martin & Shan sing traditional songs together, mostly unaccompanied and in harmony. Their repertoire is based mainly on the songs of southern England, particularly those found by the Devonshire folk song collector, Sabine Baring-Gould, whose life and work Martin has been studying for several years. Shan is also well known for the workshops that she leads on aspects of voice use and care. Martin’s book As I Walked Out, Sabine Baring-Gould and the Search for the Folk Songs of Devon and Cornwall (Signal Books, 2017) has received both the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award and the R. G Hoskins Prize.

Mary has been involved in folk clubs and festivals all her adult life, first coming to Whitby 40 years ago. Growing up in Derbyshire and now living in Hull, traditional music is a part of the culture around her. She is an enthusiast who believes the audience is the essential part of any festival and that it is her job, as MC, to help everyone have a good time.

Matt Quinn is a singer and instrumentalist and has spent over 15 years performing from small folk clubs to Glastonbury & WOMAD. Primarily a mandolin and duet concertina player, he is well known for his skills on the melodeon and as a singer and is in demand on the English folk scene. In the past, Matt has travelled abroad, performing and teaching melodeon in the Netherlands and Iceland, as well as flexing his acting muscles alongside his musical skills in the Mick Ryan folk opera A Day’s Work alongside Pete Morton, Greg Russell, Paul Downes and others. Known as one third of The Dovetail Trio, Matt currently works in the ceilidh bands Geckoes and The Discussion Topic, and in a mandolin/guitar duo with George Sansome (Granny’s Attic). Matt can also be seen in the unaccompanied harmony trio Culverake with fellow singers Lizzy Hardingham and Seb Stone.

Melvin Samuel is a tai chi with over 20 years’ teaching experience and has been leading the highly successful Whitby Folk Week tai chi workshops for many years. The workshops have been developed to give absolute beginners an opportunity to try tai chi in a supportive environment and to give more experienced practitioners the opportunity to practice in a festival group. The workshops will explore the Tai Chi form, Taoist Breathing, Taoist Yoga, Tai Chi Dance and Silk and the Taoist approach to meditation.

Ian is a researcher, singer, musician and festival director, who champions the local traditions of the Pennines and NE Scotland. Since 1969 he has conducted extensive fieldwork into singing traditions of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, especially Christmas carolling. Recent research has focused on the traditional culture of Aberdeenshire, including singing and instrumental traditions. Ian is an emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen’s Elphinstone Institute and has written and edited several books on folk and traditional music. When in Derbyshire he plays melodeon for Winster Morris.

Crows were a popular feature of the folk scene from 1978 to 1988. The combination of four strong voices and expert musicianship gave them a simultaneously unique yet broad appeal. Much of the current repertoire is taken from the Mick Ryan’s songbook and favourite songs from the tradition, Mick is a renowned song writer of many years. Crows are now rejoined by Steven Faux (Fiddle. Vocals, keyboard ) adding a unique blend of power, warmth and harmony to the band’s vocal mix. Dave Bordewey adds his astonishing high harmony lines accompanying many songs on the fiddle and Mandola. Finally, the inimitable Paul Downes on guitar, banjo, Mando-cello and harmonies

Dan Quinn has appeared at the festival since 1980, playing in the ceilidh bands Flowers and Frolics, Gas Mark 5, Used Notes, The Watch and The Dan Quinn All-Stars and singing  with Will Duke. He now sings in a duo with Mike Bettison and plays in the bands Duck Soup and The Pigeon Swing. He comperes the traditional nights at the festival and continues his ongoing project to watch every film ever made.