COMEDY-folk group the Houghton Weavers pop over the border from Lancashire to perform in Glusburn Saturday night.

The veteran entertainers are returning to Glusburn Institute and Community Arts Centre.

Ever since cutting their teeth in the local folk clubs of their native North West, the group have never wavered from their original motto of “Keep Folk Smiling”.

In their time together the group – comprising Tony Berry, David Littler and Steve Millington – have performed thousands of concerts and recorded more than 30 albums.

They have also starred in several of their own highly successful BBC radio and TV series, and made countless appearances on other programmes.

They entertain their audiences with humorous jokes and antidotes and sing ‘popular’ folk songs – from raucous traditional songs to sing a long favourites interspersed with beautiful ballads – in their own inimitable style.

A spokesman said: “No two evenings in the Houghton Weavers' company are ever the same, thanks to the second half of their act being given over to the audiences’ requests – preferably for their own songs!

“However this unpredictability can, and invariably does, lead to some interesting results.

“The Houghton Weavers' blend of entertaining folk has ensured that in that time they have enjoyed non-stop success, with a large fan club and a great following at their concerts.

“They can even boast a Number 1 hit in Tasmania with their perennial favourite The Blackpool Belle, a song that also reached Number 3 in New Zealand.”

The Houghton Weavers story began in 1975 at Westhoughton, near Bolton, and founder members David Littler and Tony Berry are still with the band.

David plays acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, banjo-ukulele, bouzouki and piano accordion , while Tony is the lead singer.

Steve Millington, who joined in 1996, plays bass guitar, keyboards, acoustic guitar and piano accordion.

The band sings mainly English folk music, much of it in Lancashire dialect, and demonstrate an eclectic range of song subjects.

They are probably best known for their BBC TV show Sit Thi Deawn – coming from the Lancashire dialect for "have a seat", referring to the hospitality of Lancashire people.

The programme ran for seven years and was a mixture of easy listening music and comedy for a local audience. The group also starred in six of their own series for BBC Radio 2.

Visit gicac.org.uk or call 01535 630223 to book tickets.