Success for many at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014

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Published: Thursday, 20 February 2014 10:40

It was a fantastic night for the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards last night at the Royal Albert Hall.

Cecil Sharp was posthumously honoured by being the first person inaugurated into the Folk Hall of Fame and marked with Ashley Hutchins portraying Sharp (with pipe and bicycle), music from John and Benji Kirkpatrick, Paul Sartin and Simon Care (can’t get much better than that) and topped off with a vibrant performance by Morris OffSpring, led by EFDSS Associate Artist Laurel Swift.

And The Full English band won the double with the Best Group and Best Album awards.

The Full English is a 30-month programme devised and managed by the EFDSS that began in 2012.

The heart of the project is to make early 20^th century collections of folk songs, music, and dances available to the world through the creation of online resources, and to bring those materials to life through projects in schools and with the wider community across England.

The Full English band comprising of Martin Simpson, Seth Lakeman, Nancy Kerr, Fay Hield, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nicholls, was commissioned by EFDSS to mark the launch of the archive and showcase some of the gems in the collections.

The Full English band performing Arthur O'Bradley

Already some 30 million people have engaged in The Full English project – online, participating in projects and attending performances.

We are indebted to the funding from the PRS for Music Foundation for the commissioning of The Full English band and to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and others, for the funding to make the entire project possible.

You can buy the album here via Topic Records.

Congratulations to all the other winners and nominees, and particularly to EFDSS Associate Artist Lisa Knapp, who won Best Original Song for Two Ravens, and Bella Hardy, our first Douglas Kennedy International Fellow, who won Folk Singer of the Year. Also to all at Cambridge Folk Festival for their Good Tradition Award in their 50th year, we look forward to working with you again this summer!