A unique repertoire of hunting songs and songs in dialect as well as fiddle tunes and dances bequeathed by Lakeland’s travelling fiddlers and dancing masters is revealed in Sue Allan’s lively talk, which is illustrated with both recorded and live music – including some songs collected from the Alston Moor area.

Born and bred in Cumbria, with John Peel as one of her forebears, Sue Allan has worked in local media and the arts and writes regularly for Cumbria Life magazine. She began singing in folk clubs at age 15, co-founded and performed with Carlisle and Throstles Nest morris teams and the Ellen Valley Band, has been researching Cumbrian music for over 40 years, and in 2016 completed a PhD looking at the unique corpus of folk song found in the county.