SEPTEMBER is a very busy month musically at Otley Courthouse as it is to play as a host venue for the 25th annual Otley Folk Festival

On Sunday, September 4 at 8pm Ten Strings and a Goat Skin will perform (tickets £12). The young acoustic power trio from Canada’s Prince Edward Isle are inviting a new circle of listeners for sometimes moody, sometimes high-energy set of original and traditional songs. Expanding on the Scottish and Acadian roots of PEI’s traditional music, Ten Strings and a Goatskin weave old-school Franco-Canadian, Breton, Irish, and Scottish tunes with wickedly current grooves and clever quirks, flirting with indie’s best moments.

Kicking off the folk festival weekend award winning singer-songwriter from Derby, Lucy Ward plays on Friday, September 16 at 8.30pm (tickets £17/£15) Lucy plays guitar, ukulele and concertina but considers her voice to be her first instrument.

After winning the Horizon Award for best newcomer at the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Lucy’s career has gone from strength to strength. In 2013 it was announced that she had been nominated for the acclaimed “Folk Singer of the Year” at the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, making Lucy one of the youngest people ever to be nominated for this most prestigious award.

She now returns with her third album “I Dreamt I Was a Bird”.

Join The Rhythm Chaps on Saturday, September 17 who host the annual ceilidh from 4pm to 7.30pm (tickets £4). Expect to be dancing to music that is both original and traditional on fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and keyboards, all with a driving rhythm and enthusiasm that makes it hard to stay in your seat. The main objective is for everyone to have fun. Everyone is welcome to come along and just turn up and dance.

And from 9pm on September 7 is An evening with The Twangles & Les Barker (tickets £6).

Les Barker is an English poet. He is best known for his comedic poetry and parodies of popular songs, but he has also produced some very serious thought-provoking written work.

Initially he toured around folk music venues as a solo performer, and later with The Mrs Ackroyd Band (named after his mongrel dog Mrs Ackroyd.) With classically trained vocalists Hilary Spencer and Alison Younger, and keyboard player Chris Harvey they enable Les's parodies to be performed live in a highly original way. Supported by local group and Korks regulars "The Twangles" Kevin Loughran, David Bowie Jr and Phil Snell will provide the music, whilst Les provides the lyrics.

To book tickets for all of these events, visit www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, call our box office on 01943 467466 or pop into the Courthouse on Courthouse Street, Otley, LS21 3AN