Mardles

East Anglian dulcimers

The East Anglian Traditional Music Day held on Saturday 27th September in Stowmarket included two sessions devoted to the dulcimer.

The first was run by Richard Blake and George Monger who brought a number of their own instruments, most of which were made by East Anglian makers in the 19th century. They played a number of short pieces to illustrate the sound of their different dulcimers.

The second session was from Katie Howson who has been researching the history of the dulcimer in our region for many years and has recently set up a website documenting this research. Her talk focused mainly on makers and players, many of whom Katie had known and played with back in the day; these included most recently Reg Reader. Other sections of the website include instrument design and tuning. If you're interested in the dulcimer, there is a wealth of information of Katie's website HERE

Autumn Folk at The Canopy Theatre

“Autumn Folk” - Canopy Theatre, Hungate Church, Beccles Thursday 30th October 2025

Autumn Folk

Following the highly successful “Winter Folk” show held at the same venue last December we present another special seasonal show to raise funds for the Waveney Foodbank organisation, which has 9 distribution Centres and 2 delivery centres across the Waveney Valley in Beccles, Halesworth, Bungay, Harleston, Long Stratton, Diss, Framlingham and Hopton. They provided almost 8000 people across the region with emergency food in 2024.

Experienced local artists will feature original, contemporary and traditional songs for the autumn season in the wonderful setting and excellent acoustics of the Canopy Theatre.

Peter and Jane are a folk duo from Suffolk, who love making music. Their original songs and tunes are influenced by the broad spectrum that is the folk genre and their performances always include a joyful selection of traditional material, arranged to suit the duo’s voices and instruments. These instruments include flute, whistles, guitar, banjo and small pipes.

Whether playing Scottish airs, Irish jigs & reels, or singing bluegrass favourites, traditional ballads or one of their own songs Peter and Jane have an accomplished and thoughtful style centred around close harmony between instruments and voices.

Liz Simcock at The Canopy Theatre Beccles

LIZ SIMCOCK Canopy Theatre, Hungate Church, Beccles Saturday 25th October 2025 7.30 p.m. Tickets £12

Liz Simcock

Liz Simcock has been called one of the country’s finest female singer songwriters (AcoustiCity). Her songs – often autobiographical and highly personal – are immediately accessible to audiences and injected with poetry, emotion and splashes of humour.

In 1999 she featured on Playpen Records’ Album of New Acoustic Music alongside Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Eddi Reader and Kathryn Williams. Since then she has trodden an independent path, gaining a growing reputation as a performer and songwriter for more than 20 years.

Liz counts Richard Thompson, Clive Gregson, Boo Hewerdine and Joni Mitchell amongst her songwriting influences. She has released five solo albums to date:Seven Sisters Road, Vanishing Girl, Beachcomber, Friday Night Train Home (featuring the virtuoso backing of Dave Ellis and Boo Howard) and in 2020 the latest, Winter Hill, a pared down acoustic album featuring one voice, one guitar and beautifully crafted and previously unreleased songs.