The Houghton Weavers are back on tour this Autumn / Winter coming to a stage near you!

THE Houghton Weavers have been entertaining folk for 47 years with their unique blend of popular folk music, humour and audience participation and they announce their annual forthcoming Autumn / Winter 2022 UK Tour. The North West's leading comedy / folk group will visit Towns and Cities, such as:- Southport, Colwyn Bay, Morecambe, Darwen, Warrington, Preston, Bolton, Middleton, Lytham St Anne's, Blackpool, Buxton and Ulverston.

"To us, this traditional Scottish Folk Song depicts the love that Queen Elizabeth II had for the beautiful Scottish Highlands. It could almost be a signature to her love and time spent north of the border. It's such a poignant and beautiful traditional song and it seems a perfect track as our tribute to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Having been working on the album for almost 2 years, through Covid and into the summer of 2022, It's a mixture of self-penned and traditional songs as well as some very well-known folk covers. We have used various session musicians including Ken Nichol of Steeleye Span and the wonderful country folk guitarist Pete Frampton. The album has that Weavers comedy element but is brought back down to earth with some beautifully poignant trad folk songs. We are dedicating this album to our late Tony Berry who sadly passed away in 2019."

The Houghton Weavers have been entertaining folk up and down the country and promise a fun packed, sing-along family show with great music and funny stories galore! There will be plenty of laughter and the old familiar songs like the Blackpool Belle, Matchstalk Men and Wild Rover mixed together with some new songs, and festive perennial favourites on the Christmas Tour like Let It Snow, Bless Your Whiskers and White Christmas.

Learning their craft in the folk clubs of their native North West, the group have never wavered from their original motto of:- "Keep Folk Smiling."

Steve Millington, David Littler and Jim Berry entertain their audiences in a show of charming fun, humorous jokes, and anecdotes, together with plenty of music, varying from raucous traditional and popular Folk Songs to sing-along favourites, with beautiful ballads and original pieces included throughout. Their wide and varied repertoire, alongside their unique and well-known style ensures that no 2 shows in the company of The Houghton Weavers are ever the same.

The band continue their non-stop success with a packed schedule of theatres and other venues, also hosting 2 residential weekends a year. With a large and active fan club, and growing social media following, The Houghton Weavers enjoy entertaining those young and old in a show designed for all the family to enjoy.

In their time together, the band have performed thousands of concerts, recorded over 30 albums and starred in several of their own highly successful BBC radio and TV series and made countless appearances on other programmes. They guarantee a wonderful afternoon / evening of entertainment and their experience; together with their style and professionalism; ensures that, as their motto says, they always:- "Keep Folk Smiling."

The Southport performance will be on Saturday, 10 December 2022, at the Leyland Road Conference Centre, and for more information about the concert in Southport, please visit:- HoughtonWeavers.Com.

Liverpool Philharmonic Announces Winner of Rushworth Composition Prize 2022

LIVERPOOL Philharmonic is delighted to announce Christopher Cook as the winner of its annual Rushworth Composition Prize. Christopher, a post graduate music student, will receive a £1,000 cash prize, made possible through the support of the Rushworth Foundation, and a year's complimentary membership of the Ivors Academy, the UK's leading professional association for music creators.

The Prize will give Christopher a unique, year long experience to develop his talent at Liverpool Philharmonic. Christopher will participate in a programme of master classes, workshops and mentoring sessions delivered by conductors, composers, performers and other professionals associated with Liverpool Philharmonic. There will also be additional opportunities to create new works and commissions for Liverpool Philharmonic ensembles. Christopher will write a new work for performance by Ensemble 10:10, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's contemporary music group, in Autumn 2023.

Christopher is a Manchester based composer currently studying for a post-graduate diploma in composition at the Royal Northern College of Music under Professors Emily Howard and Adam Gorb, having received a scholarship from the Richard Newitt Fund. In 2021, he was a finalist in the John Armitage Memorial Prize, working alongside Paul Mealor with players from the LSO and Onyx Brass. In 2022, he won the Rosamond Prize, collaborating with the poet Katherine Collins on his piece, 'They Multiply Their Wings' and this year, he was also a finalist in the RNCM's Gold Medal competition with his Piano Trio 'Apeirophobia.'

On winning the prize Christopher said:- "I am incredibly grateful to have been given this opportunity by the Liverpool Philharmonic, to be able to work alongside players of such calibre is an immense privilege I could never have imagined I would get. Over the coming year, not only am I hugely excited to be able to bring my visions to life with the chance to work with the wonderful Ensemble 10:10, but also for the possibility to meet and form connections with so many inspiring musicians who I know will help push me to further develop my compositional craft."

Peter Garden, Executive Director, Performance and Learning, at Liverpool Philharmonic, commented:- "The Rushworth Composition Prize is an integral part of Liverpool Philharmonic's long term and wide ranging support for emerging talent in the North West. We are delighted to award the Prize to Christopher this year. The standard of entries is always very high and we thank everyone who put themselves forward. I'm looking forward to hearing more of Christopher's music over this next year, culminating in the performance of a new commission by Ensemble 10:10, in 2023."

On Wednesday 26 October, Ensemble 10:10 performed 2021 Rushworth Composition Prize winner Nneka Cummins' new work Metal Tapestry.

Previous winners of the Rushworth Composition Prize include:- Grace Evangeline Mason, who premiered new orchestral work The Imagined Forest at the 2021 BBC Proms, co-commissioned with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Carmel Smickersgill, who was nominated for the Ivors Academy Rising Star Award in 2020.