Houghton Weavers

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The Houghton Weavers are an English folk music band formed in 1975,^[1] in Westhoughton, Bolton, Greater Manchester (historically part of Lancashire), England. The current band members are Steve Millington (bass guitar, keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano accordion and vocals) and Jim Berry (guitar, harmonica and vocals), with Peter Frampton on guitars. Steve and Peter played together in 70's country band Poacher. Steve Millington joined in 1996, and Jim Berry joined in 2017. Jim's brother Tony Berry had been a founder member of the band but died in June 2019.^[2]

Founder members were Norman Prince (1975 to 1999, acoustic guitar, banjo, 12 string guitar, bass guitar and vocals), to 1977) John Oliver (1975 to 1976, vocals), Denis Littler (1976 to 1984, bass guitar and vocals), David Littler (1975 to 2024, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, banjo-ukulele, bouzouki, piano accordion and vocals) and Tony Berry (1975 to 2019, vocals).

They sing mainly English folk music, much of it in Lancashire dialect, as well as folk versions of easy listening hits. The group's song subjects include "The Blackpool Belle", "Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls", and "The Lion of Vienna" in honour of footballer Nat Lofthouse.

They are best known for their BBC TV show Sit Thi Deawn (Lancashire dialect for "have a seat", referring to the hospitality of Lancashire people). The programme ran for six series or seven years and was a mixture of easy listening music and comedy for a local audience.^[3] The group also starred in six of their own series for BBC Radio 2.

In 2014, lead singer Tony Berry was unable to perform due to throat cancer and attended as a sound mixer.^[4] He recovered and continued singing with the band, but in June 2019, it was reported that he had died of pancreatic cancer.^[4]

• "With 'folk' you either think of something like the Houghton Weavers, or proper folk." – Andy Kershaw^[5]

• Official Website