Ridgeway Singers and Band present â€˜To Keep Old Christmas Up!â€™

December is Ridgeway time, and once again The Ridgeway Singers & Band invite you to join them for an evening of Dorset carols, folksongs, toe-tapping dance tunes, and local poems and stories to welcome and celebrate the coming of midwinter and the festive season.

Formed ten years ago by Artsreach as part of the South Dorset Ridgeway project, the group specialises in performing the old gallery carols made famous by Thomas Hardy in Under the Greenwood Tree. The singers are accompanied by 9 musicians playing stringed and woodwind instruments, and the concerts evoke the fun, friendship and excitement of old-fashioned country Christmases when the entertainment was local and home-made.

The group is led by renowned serpent player and member of the Mellstock Band Phil Humphries, and actor and folk musician Tim Laycock, who is also the artistic director of the New Hardy Players.

This year the Ridgeway Singers & Band begin at Abbotsbury in the parish church, where one of our first concerts took place, on 8 December. There follows a matinee performance in Wareham on 10 December. The final concert will again be at the Dorford Centre in Dorchester on Wednesday 20 December.

Tickets via www.ridgewaysingersandband.org or call 01305 262159

Adults £12, Under 18s £6