TICKETS are now on sale for the Paul Gunningham Music Festival on March 28 and 29. The two-day event has been set up to commemorate the life of Paul, an eclectic musician and cider buff from Ickleford, who died, aged 55, in May last year after being invo

TICKETS are now on sale for the Paul Gunningham Music Festival on March 28 and 29.

The two-day event has been set up to commemorate the life of Paul, an eclectic musician and cider buff from Ickleford, who died, aged 55, in May last year after being involved in a road accident near Luton Airport.

Paul enjoyed success with the Pete Atkins band and wrote the anthology notes for The Wurzels.

In recent years he played guitar in a concert band called Tam Lin, and just two weeks before his accident opened a show for folk icon Julie Felix.

Fellow folk singer and friend Alan Hewson, 53, of Seddington, near Sandy, hopes music-lovers of all persuasions will come and celebrate Paul's life.

Speaking to The Comet he said: "Paul was a lovely person and this festival is everyone's way of saying thank you for putting a smile on our faces."

The festival is being organised by Mad Nanny Music - who run the Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club - and comprises of three concerts, a free open music session, a songwriting workshop, and Morris dancing.

The three concerts reflect different aspects of folk music. The Friday night concert will feature contemporary artists with a modern acoustic style, and will be headlined by Julie Felix.

The Saturday afternoon concert and songwriting workshop will be led by George Papavgeris, a sonwriter with eight albums to his name.

The closing concert on Saturday evening will have a more Celtic feel and features Paul's band Tam Lin, Malcolm Hobbs, and Geordie singer-songwriter Jez Lowe.

Mad Nanny Music can be contacted through their website at www.madnanny.co.uk or by phone on 0845 123 2658.

Videos of singers performing at the Baldock and Letchworth Folk Club can be viewed at http://youtube.com/bal dockfolkclub