“Unearthing – Stories of Sidmouth”, a free concert presented at the Ham Marquee on Sunday August 4, was the culmination of a six-month project by Wren Music and Sidmouth Folk Festival, celebrating the relationship between the festival and the Sidmouth community over the past 70 years.

Featuring music from the Folk Orchestra of East Devon, the Devon Youth Folk Ensemble, song from the massed Wren choirs of Exeter, North Devon, West Devon and Torbay, dance from the Sidmouth Steppers and memories of festival veterans, the performance was very much a local affair.

Throughout the project, leaders worked closely with local schools and community groups, sharing music and dance, collecting memories and encouraging creativity. The results included “Stories of Sidmouth” – a song composed by Sidmouth Community College students based on the memories of local people – the “Norman Hornpipe”, written and performed by the Devon Youth Folk Ensemble in honour of Norman Lockyer, and “Transporting the Stone”, a song about the Beer quarry workers, sung by the Wren Men's Team to the accompaniment of chisels striking stone. There was plenty of laughter at the recollections of festivals past from those who'd survived them, some community singing, and, in tribute to the days of the international festival, tunes introduced to Sidmouth by visiting dance teams.

Perhaps the most powerful, though, were the extracts from the community play “A Poor Man's House”, written to honour the hard life of the Sidmouth fishermen and their families in the days when fishing was the main source of income in the town. Told in the words of those who lived through it, it was a moving evocation of a time that may seem far away to today's youth, but in fact remains within living memory of Sidmouth's most senior residents.

As Sidmouth Folk Festival celebrates its 70th year, “Unearthing” was not only a celebration of our local folk tradition, but proof of its continuing relevance in the 21st century in terms of connecting us all to our roots and uniting and uplifting our communities.  Here's wishing it very many happy returns!