Bands 2026
Dave Yeomans & Fran Bulpit
Dave will be familiar to you all as the master accordionist from Deo Volente. Regular dancers at the Lichfield Folk Festival, this year he and his wife Victoria are on stage separately, so that we can appreciate even more of their exceptional talent.
Fran is one of the finest fiddlers on the folk dance scene today. You will recognise her as a mainstay of the band Knotted Chord, and she has been playing quite regularly as a duo with Dave especially when Victoria is also a booked caller. She lives in Market Deeping in Lincolnshire, which involves lots of travelling to virtually every gig!
Stradivarious
Stradivarious is led by Rod Stradling on accordion with Poppy Weatherall on violin and Frances Stradling on percussion. They play a wide range of types of folk dance music, from Playford-style to ceilidh and morris and clog to international. They also run music workshops and teach small groups and one-to-one. They have made several recordings of English dance music and they are all active dancers so they know what we want to provide for our dancers’ enjoyment. More information is available at www.stradivarious.co.uk
3D
3D is Chris, Julie and Nick Dewhurst, our very own local Lichfield band! They have a busy schedule playing for English and Scottish dance events and festivals up and down the country, and they manage to divide their time pretty much equally between the genres. Their roots in folk music go back many years, but they have played as a family band since 1997. The band is equally at home playing romping reels and sensitive slow airs, strict Scottish and purest Playford (well, as pure as you can get with two accordions, drum kit and trumpet!)
3D’s trademarks include their infectious enthusiasm, drive and ‘lift’ , and they always strive to fit the music to the dance perfectly, often adding a little
spontaneous creativity to their musical arrangements in response to the dancers.
Box of Frogs- Linda Game & Ali Messer
HOIK (Alan Brunier, Edward Wallace, & Adam Beresford-Browne)