Lincs songwriter competition and award-winning artists at free folk awards in Spalding

The prestigious Song For Lincolnshire competition will for the first time be held in Spalding.

Hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire, the event is in its 23rd year and features live performances from the finalists, as well as sets from professional bands.

Proceeds from the evening will go towards the Children In Need charity and the event will be broadcast live on Radio Lincolnshire.

Each year, songwriters pen a song about Lincolnshire and submit them in an attempt to secure a place in the final. The winner is decided on the night.

This year’s finalists who’ll perform their original Lincolnshire songs are Geoff Convery and Jim Hancock, Paul Dickinson, Kim Biggs, Salutation, Ashley Groombridge and Angela King, Homity, Steve and Julie Wigley and Penny Sykes.

Joining them will be Teeside folk group The Young’uns, who won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Group awards two years in a row.

Supporting The Young’uns is Lincolnshire duo Ben Smith and Jimmy Brewer, who have recently performed in Nashville.

Paul Dickinson from Spalding Folk Club is also thrilled to have the competition come to town. “This competition has been running every year since 1992 and Spalding songwriters have generally been well-represented on finals night, with several past winners coming from the town,” he said.

The evening will be hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire presenter Jono Brine, who said: “It’s really exciting to bring Song for Lincolnshire to Spalding.

“We have some fantastic songs that have been entered this year and we can’t wait to have The Young‘uns performing in the town.”

Last year’s event took place at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln.

This year, Song For Lincolnshire takes place on Thursday, November 2.

Entry to the event is free and tickets are available from the South Holland Centre box office or online at www.southhollandcentre.co.uk

As well as the awards, there’s more folk action in town courtesy of Spalding Folk Club, who the night before welcome back the folk group Pilgrim’s Way.

The group have recently added early music specialist Jude Rees to their line-up, who adds to the mix bagpipes, obie, hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, guitar and more.

Tickets cost £6 (£5 Spalding Folk Club members), from South Holland Centre.