Sidbury Primary, St Nicholas Junior Schools and Sidmouth College involved

A PAIR of grants from the Sid Vale Association’s Keith Owen Fund has seen schoolchildren take part in folk music and dance projects.

Youngsters from Sidbury Primary and St Nicholas Junior Schools were given a helping hand by Okehampton based Wren Music.

Wyn Humphreys, headteacher at Sidbury in the 1950s, was involved in folk music and discovered there was a local repertoire of traditional dances that had been performed in the village for several generations.

These dances and tunes were published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society in a booklet and have since been performed all over the country.

Children will show off their own dances and teach them to parents and festival goers on Sunday (July 31) in St Teresa’s Church Hall from 4.30pm to 6pm.

Folk South West has also been working with Year Ten pupils at Sidmouth College thanks to the Keith Owen Fund.

Tony Liddington, a well known FolkWeek performer, worked with a small group on a pierrot project.

A FolkWeek spokesman said: “The Festival has a great impact on the cultural and artistic life of the town, and we welcome this opportunity of engaging a new generation of local children with the Festival.”