Folk dancers and musicians will be making their way to St Albans City Centre on Saturday, June 29, for a day of music and dancing culminating in a concert at 8pm at the Roman Theatre. After dancing from 10am outside the Alban Arena, there will be further displays of dancing from 11.30am up to 4pm in the civic centre, by the Clock Tower, in Upper Dagnall Street near the White Swan, in Christopher Place and outside the Abbey west door.

There will be free musical performances from 12.20pm-5pm in five city centre pubs: The Mermaid, the Farmer’s Boy, The Garibaldi, The White Hart Tap and the White Lion plus performances from 11am to 5.00pm in Waterstones bookshop and the Court Room at the Old Town Hall. There will be opportunities to join in singing at the Courtyard Café and in playing instrumental music in the Goat, plus a workshop for ukulele players in the Mermaid, followed by a performance.

The highlight of the day will be the festival concert at 8pm in the Roman Theatre at Verulamium. The guests will be the iconic band Flook. The festival organisers are delighted to welcome the flutes and whistles of Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen, the guitar of Ed Boyd and the bodhran of John Joe Kelly, weaving and spinning traditionally rooted tunes into an enthralling sound in Sarah Allen’s home town of St Albans.

The Folk Festival also falls within the period of the Abbey’s Roman Festival. As no one knows what the Romans’ music sounded like, the Folk Festival has issued an invitation to write new songs about our Roman heritage on the theme of ‘Roman Verulamium and St Albans today’. The writers of the chosen entries have now been invited to perform their Roman songs on Sunday, June 30, at an event at the White Lion from 2pm to 5pm.

The festival will continue with informal music at the Robin Hood, Victoria Street and end with a performance at 9pm by Americana band Bathtub Ginn in the Farmer’s Boy.

St Albans Folk Festival will run from Friday, June 28, to Sunday, June 30. The festival will start on Friday evening, June 28, with an open evening hosted by Friday Folk social dance group and a Folk Fantastic gig at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks.