Join us for a series of intimate folk concerts at Cullercoats Watch House, a unique and quirky venue in the heart of Cullercoats. The evening will include a short support set (details tbc).

Sandra Kerr

Sandra has had a long and distinguished career in folk music since her days with Ewan MacColl’s Critics Group, and

“. . besides being a versatile musician with a beautifully expressive voice, she is an exceptionally good song-writer.”(FRoots)

With Ewan and Peggy and the Critics, she performed all over the world, and recorded numerous albums.

Well known as the co- writer, with John Faulkner, of the music for “Bagpuss”, (voted ‘best-loved BBC TV children’s programme’ in 1999), she directs folk choirs (including the popular and award-winning Northumbrian Choir Werca’s Folk) and is greatly respected as a tutor of folk arts.

She is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, dulcimer, autoharp and the English concertina. She is popular as a tutor on the latter instrument and has taught regularly at concertina gatherings including the ‘Swaledale Squeeze’ and ‘Concertinas At Whitney’, and twice at the National Folk Festival Easter School in Canberra.

‘Whittingham Fair’, a Northumbrian version of ‘Scarborough Fair’, showed off the clarity of Sandra’s voice, which at its best is strong and true. ‘Hopping in Kent’, a song learned from her mother in the East End of London, was accompanied by the spoons — which sadly moved far too quickly to photograph! Throughout the evening Sandra moved smoothly from guitar to autoharp to concertina, seemingly equally at home on all.

Another notable moment came with Leon Rosselson’s ‘My Daughter, My Son’, the story of a mother whose fear for the safety of her children causes her to lock them up. Sandra’s concertina playing was particularly effective here, with a sinister background tune that was almost cinematic.

Sandra Kerr treats the whole audience as friends and creates an atmosphere that is relaxed and welcoming. I wandered off, satisfied, humming ‘The Bony King of Nowhere’.

Betty Hagglund

Find out more here: https://www.sandrakerr.net/