Celtic folk favourites return to Thatcham Festival

Local Celtic folk favourites Mark T and Paul Hancock will be playing Thatcham Festival of the Arts again this year, with special guest singer songwriter Sara Daniels on guitar and concertina.

Their performance of Celtic Music and Songs will take place at the Old Bluecoat School, Thatcham, on Tuesday at 8pm.

Paul Hancock and Mark T play instrumental music from the Celtic nations Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. They first started playing together in 1980 and became resident performers at The Cap and Gown folk club in Reading and Nettlebed folk club in Oxfordshire.

In 1981 they had their first major exposure when they became south of England busking champions. This led to radio and TV appearances and write ups in all the major music and entertainment magazines of the time.

In 1981 and 1982 they toured Brittany twice as well as the north of England and since then have continued to play together, albeit intermittently, as a duo and as part of the World Music group Mark T and the Brickbats. In 1996, with multi-instrumentalist Dave Maggs, they released the critically acclaimed CD A Parting Gift.

In 2015 they were commissioned to write a cycle of tunes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thatcham Nature Discovery centre and this became Song of the Wetlands, a mix of original and Celtic music.