📣Calling for Gold Badge nominations! 🏆 The Gold Badge is the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s highest award, and recognises important contributions to cultural life in England. Awards categories are: Those who have made unique or outstanding contributions to the broad range of folk dance, music, song and storytelling. Those who have rendered distinguished service to the aims of the English Folk Dance and Song Society through their exceptional contribution, as educators, collectors, researchers, music promoters/managers, media entities, etc. Those who have a particular profile within the wider national cultural sector – crossing over from what has historically been considered ‘English folk’ into mainstream culture. Make your nomination by 1 April. Link in bio

End of half term treat – bring your family to tomorrow’s Family Barn Dance. Tickets still available! Link in bio Photo by Brian Slater

Let’s Dance: give folk dance a try! From Tue 25 Feb to Thu 6 March we’re getting involved in Let’s Dance, the national campaign – spearheaded by Angela Rippon CBE – to get the nation dancing. We’re offering a limited number of free places for new participants to take part in our fun and friendly folk dance classes at Cecil Sharp House. Everyone is welcome at our events. Morris Dancing Tue 25 Feb, Tue 4 March: 6.30pm - 8pm Have fun with sticks and hankies! A relaxed and energetic way to discover one of England’s most iconic dances. English Country Dancing Thu 27 Feb, Thu 6 March: 7.30pm - 9.30pm Learn English country, ceilidh and barn dancing, with live music. Both classes are for all levels of experience, including absolute beginners. Go to the Latest News link in our bio for more details and how to apply for your free dance class. #LetsDance @theangelarippon @sportandrecalliance #MorrisDancing #EnglishCountryDancing #FolkDance

Announcing a brand new series of online library courses, Folk Uncovered! We're delighted to launch the series with Steve Roud, creator of the Roud Folk Song Index, presenting 'Folk Song in England': a six-week online evening course on the social history of traditional song and singing in England up to about 1950 (when the post-war Folk Revival changed things dramatically). Online: Thursdays, 1 May - 5 June, 7.30pm. Book your place now - 'Latest News' link in bio. #FolkSong #SteveRoud #RoudIndex #SocialHistory #LearnOnline #FolkUncovered Image: Cecil Sharp collecting songs

This Thursday! 20 February, 7pm. The Fire Station, Sunderland. The National Youth Folk Ensemble brings together talented young folk musicians from across England. Join them at The Fire Station, Sunderland for an evening of music on the theme of Music, Heritage, Place, created and performed by these rising stars. With guests Folkestra and the Melrose Quartet @nationalyouthfolk @firestationsun #FolkMusic #YouthFolkMusic

If you’re interested in Street Literature and Cheap Print, there’s still plenty of time to book for next Saturday’s Broadside Day. The conference covers everything from chapbooks to catchpennies, last dying speeches to news (real and fake). Broadside Day Sat 22 Feb, 9.30am - 5pm @cecilsharphouse Discover more and book your tickets via the link in our bio. #folkhistory #broadside #StreetLiterature #ephemera

📣We are recruiting📣 Are you enthusiastic about folk music and dance? Are you a qualified archivist with practical experience of cataloguing, archival software, and caring for a multi-format collection? We are looking for a new Archivist to join our team at the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). The role, responsible for the cataloguing, organisation and preservation of the archives, sits within EFDSS’ Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, England’s national collection for folk music and dance, incorporating song, instrumental music, and social and display dance, alongside folk customs, traditional drama, social history and folklore. Visit the Vacancies link in our bio for more information and how to apply. The deadline for applications is 10am on Monday 17 March. #archivist #folkhistory #folktradition #folkmusic #folkdance

Join the National Youth Folk Ensemble! Are you aged between 12 and 18? Do you already play an instrument? Come to an Open Day this May to find out more about the National Youth Folk Ensemble Each Open Day will be: CREATIVE – music workshops with highly skilled professional folk musicians INFORMATIVE – Q&A about the National Youth Folk Ensemble FUN – opportunity to meet and play music with other young musicians FREE to attend Open Days are in London, Exeter and Leeds. Book your free place now. Link in bio. #FolkMusic #FolkOrchestra #YouthMusic #MusicEducation

Fiddling in Dumfries and Galloway For our next Library Lecture, Jo Miller and Stuart Eydmann introduce their current research on the lively local culture of fiddle music and dance in Dumfries and Galloway – its performers, composers, teachers and collectors – during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tues 11 Feb 7.30pm - 9pm Online £5 Book your place via 'Library Lectures and Broadside Day' in the link in bio. #FiddleMusic #FolkMusic #ScottishFolkMusic Image: The Kirkcowan Orchestra c1900

The National Youth Folk Ensemble brings together talented young folk musicians from across England. Join them at The Fire Station, Sunderland for an evening of music on the theme of Music, Heritage, Place, created and performed by these rising stars. The Fire Station, Sunderland Thursday 20 February, 7pm With guests Folkestra and the Melrose Quartet @nationalyouthfolk @firestationsun #FolkMusic #YouthFolkMusic

We're taking a fond look back at the National Youth Folk Ensemble Cohort 9’s first residency last October, pictured here with guest tutor Suntou Susso. Watch this space for details of our upcoming National Youth Folk Ensemble Open Days across the country, where you can take part in the band for a day and see if joining the next cohort is for you. @suntousussomusic @nationalyouthfolk #YouthFolk #EnglishFolk #YouthMusic #FolkMusic #FolkBand #MusicEducation

We've got a great line up of Speakers putting the lived experience of disabled people at the forefront of the workshops and talks at our day conference on Creating Accessible and Inclusive Folk Dance. Speakers include: Janet Bell Lisa Heywood @lisah.dance and Poppy Price Dowhan @poppy.whistles @people_dancing_uk Penny Lury of Milkmaid Molly Sara Marshall-Rose @saramarshall.rose of Folk3D Emmie Ward and Roary Neat Saturday 15 March, 11am - 5pm Cecil Sharp House, London Read all about our Speakers and book your ticket in the Latest News section - link in bio. #FolkEducation #DisabilityInclusion #Equity #Accessibility #InclusionMatters #FolkDance

In the midst of bleak times, we're trying to stay cheerful and invoke the childlike joy EFDSS staff felt Dusking - or dancing the sun down - out in the garden of Cecil Sharp House on 31 October. It was thrilling to be part of an emerging folk tradition (invented by Lucy Wright @lucy_j_wright) and we hope this photo brings you a smile. #Dusking #FolkAgainstFascism

Broadside Day 2025 Saturday 22 February The annual one-day conference for people interested in Street Literature and Cheap Print in all its fascinating aspects – broadsides, chapbooks, songsters, woodcuts, engravings, last dying speeches, catchpennies, news (real and fake), almanacs, carol sheets, wonder tales, and all kinds of cheap printed ephemera sold or distributed to ordinary people in the streets and at fairs, from pedlars’ packs, and in back-street shops, up and down the country. #FolkHistory #Broadsides #StreetLiterature #ephemera

Introducing Cecil Sharp's Singers John Short (1839-1933) Short supplied Sharp with 57 sea shanties across four visits to Watchet, Somerset, in 1914 while the latter was staying with Rev. AA Brockington, the vicar of nearby Carhampton. Short had been a sailor, often employed as a ‘shantyman’ to keep the crew working in rhythm on voyages to North America, the Far East and round Cape Horn to Peru. Short’s ‘deep, resonant and powerful voice’ gave Sharp 46 of the 60 tunes featured in his book of the same year, English Folk-Chanteys. John’s father, Richard, had also been a sailor and it is likely John went to sea with him in the coastal trade of the Bristol Channel as a child. In retirement John became the town crier for Watchet and it was said that you could hear his voice two miles away. A statue of him sculpted by Alan Herriott was erected on Watchet seafront in 2008. The corridors at Cecil Sharp House ring with the voices of these people. See the free exhibition at Cecil Sharp House until the end of February or on our online gallery. Click on 'Exhibition celebrates Cecil Sharp's Singers' link in our bio for details. #folksinger #folkmusic #folkhistory #folkarchives #englishfolk

Introducing Cecil Sharp's Singers ✨ Lydia Wyatt (1828-1916) and George Wyatt (1822-1907): On the first of his visits to their house in West Harptree, in April 1904, Sharp collected from George Wyatt, but not his wife Lydia. When he returned in August, and subsequently in 1906, both sang to him. The Wyatts provided him with 13 songs in total, with two of George’s, ‘Rambling sailor’ and ‘Blackbirds and thrushes’ appearing in the Folk Songs from Somerset series. Lydia and George were both the children of labourers, and married in 1849. In the censuses of 1851 and 1861, George was listed as an agricultural labourer. In 1871 both he and his two sons were ‘miners’ but had reverted to working the land ten years later. They had nine children together. When George died in 1907, he left Lydia alone in their two roomed house. She lived on parish relief of 2/6d and a loaf of bread, and died at Clutton Workhouse in 1916. From our exhibition of photographs taken by Cecil Sharp of the people who sang to him; 'Cecil Sharp's Singers'. #folksinger #folkmusic #folkhistory #folkarchives #englishfolk

Introducing Cecil Sharp's Singers ✨ Lily Porter (1895 - 1969?): Lily Porter of Bridgwater was 11 when she first met Sharp. She provided him with 12 singing games across 1906-7. The first two, ‘Jenny Lengle’ and ‘Three Dukes Came a Riding’, came three days after Sharp’s first experience of the genre with Alice Snow in Somerton, and were the first examples of singing games he actually credited to children. Sharp sought out many more examples in Somerset, noting that the country was poorly represented in Alice Bertha Gomme’s Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland of 1894 and 1898, and then co-published with her sets of singing games for the Novello School Songs series of 1909-1912. Lily was thus an important inspiration for Sharp. Lily was the sixth child of Elizabeth Porter, another singer, who gave Sharp ‘The False Bride’ several days later. Her father, Walter, was a bricklayer. She was the immediate neighbour of Jack Barnard, one of the most prolific singers Sharp collected from, and who may have recommended her to him. Lily married Albert Came, a master mariner on Christmas Day 1913, and probably died in June 1969 at the age of 74. From our exhibition of photographs taken by Cecil Sharp of the people who sang to him; 'Cecil Sharp's Singers'. #folksinger #folkmusic #folkhistory #folkarchives #englishfolk

Introducing Cecil Sharp's Singers ✨ John England (1865?-1940): John Henry England was the singer of the first folk song ever collected by Cecil Sharp, ‘The Seeds of Love’, on 22 August 1903. At the time, Sharp was staying with his long-time friend Rev Charles Marson at Hambridge vicarage in Somerset, and John was his gardener. He was mowing the lawn with a horse-drawn mower as he sang. John was the only child of a father who died young and his wife Mary Ann. By 1881 she was a buttonholer, while 16 year old John had become an agricultural labourer. John married Rose Morris, the daughter of the sexton of Barrington, in 1886 and by 1891 he was a ‘gardener’ with two sons, who were followed by a further son and a daughter by 1901. He and Rose lived in the house behind the church, and John became sexton of the parish. The family emigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1911, where John died in 1940 and Rose in 1957. From our exhibition of photographs taken by Cecil Sharp of the people who sang to him; ‘Cecil Sharp's Singers’. #folksinger #folkmusic #folkhistory #folkarchives #englishfolk

Introducing Cecil Sharp's Singers ✨ Louie Hooper (1860-1946): Louisa Hooper, of Westport, Somerset, was undoubtedly one of the most important singers in the career of Cecil Sharp. He was introduced to her when he first visited Rev Charles Marson at Hambridge Vicarage in August 1903 and returned on many occasions, collecting from her 37 solo songs, as well as 19 duets with her half-sister Lucy White (also featured in this exhibition). Louie is said to have been born with a disabled leg, which meant that she attended school infrequently. Her mother Sarah, who died in 1892, was a renowned singer. In 1884 Louie married labourer George Henry Hooper, but he died just weeks after their wedding, aged 30. Three babies with unknown fathers were subsequently baptised to her. In the 1891 census, she was living with her parents in Westport, but in 1901 she was listed as ‘Head of House, Widow, age 40 shirtmaker at home’, with daughter Flossie Hooper, age 15, Buttonholer, and Archie Hooper, age 8. She attracted coal charity money every Christmas, as distributed by Rev Marson. Rev Etherington’s unpublished biography of Marson includes a letter from Louie: ‘… when I was still very young, all the women in this village did glovemaking … I used to cut off the ends for them, and … while they worked, they would sing the old songs and I learnt them all, and would sing them over to myself and listen over and over. And that’s how I got them’. She was recorded by the BBC in 1942, and died four years later at the age of 86. From our exhibition of photographs taken by Cecil Sharp of the people who sang to him; ‘Cecil Sharp's Singers’. #folksinger #folkmusic #folkhistory #folkarchives #englishfolk

Announcing our 2025 Micro Grants for Folk Artists: congratulations to: Germa Adan @germa_music Jordan Aikin @jordanaikinmusic Frankie Archer @frankiearchermusic Janice Burns & Jon Doran @janandjonmusic Archie Churchill Moss @archiecmossmusic Georgie @georgie.buchanan.music and Alana @alanafiddleton RE:VULVA @re.vulvaband Something Sleeps @something_sleeps Suntou Susso @suntousussomusic They will receive funding to help develop their professional careers in various ways. For further info click on the 'Latest News' link in the bio. #artistdevelopment #folkartists #folkmusic #folkmusician #supportingmusic #musicdevelopment

Take a look back at our iconic first ever Bhangra Ceilidh from November, as we release our highlights trailer. Watch this space for 2025 ventures... Video credit: Narvir Singh @narvision @kuljit.bhamra @hazelaskewmusic @nationalyouthfolk @bhangra.lexicon @lisah.dance @caperingcrew @vasda_punjab #BhangraCeilidh #Bhangra #LondonBhangra #LondonCeilidh #Ceilidh #IndianMusic #IndianDance #BhangraDance #FolkDance #BhangraDanceLondon #CeilidhDancing #SocialDance

New year, new intentions, new pursuit… There are still spaces at our folk dance classes at @cecilsharphouse, starting next week – Morris dancing on Tuesday evenings and English Country Dancing on Thursday evenings. Find out more at the classes and courses link in bio.

Keen to try something new this year? Learn folk songs and singing from the convenience of your home with our Monday Folk Singers online course, led by two-time Radio 2 Folk Award nominee @cohenbraithwaite. Mondays 13 Jan - 24 Mar (no session 17 Oct) Find out more and book via classes and courses link in bio.

📣Folk Dance Remixed: Audition Call Out Seeking folk and hip hop dancers, beat boxers and musicians… Folk Dance Remixed is delighted to announce that it will be holding auditions to join the company on Wednesday 22 January at Cecil Sharp House. Want to fuse folk dance with hip hip? Beatbox with Squeezebox? Apply now! @folkdance_remixed is a groundbreaking dance company with over ten years experience creating unique fusions between folk and hip hop styles with live music. Deadline to apply: 18 January. For further info, specific candidate requirements and how to apply, click on the 'Latest News' link in the bio. #CallForMusicians #CallForDancers #hiphopdance #breaking #popping #krumping #beatbox #folkdance #dance Photo by Chris Walshaw

Looking for a new England? Join Peter Harrop for the January Library Lecture reflecting on progressive folk. Peter’s talk commences by addressing matters of terminology around folk, Folklore, the folk movement, Folkloristics and the folkloresque. He then employs a range of sub-headings (hauntology and folk, Folklore and the folkloresque, anti-Folklore folk, fine art into folk) to ponder and celebrate these developments. The talk concludes by asking whether this creative, practice-based movement might best be understood in terms of contemporary folklore studies, or rather as a vital post-folk artistic movement. Tue 14 Jan 7.30pm - 9pm Online £5 | £15 for all four Library Lectures Book now (link in bio) Image: Photo and Costumes by @annafcsmith #Folklore @rantstep #ProgressiveFolk #Hauntology #LibraryLecture