Last updated 11:37, Thursday, 05 June 2008

UP-AND-COMING artists Tom Kitching and Gren Bartley, a young duo from Loughborough who have recently signed with the Cumbrian Fellside record label, open the summer season at the Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth, tomorrow.

Fiddle-player Tom and guitarist Gren perform an ‘aromatic hotpot of folk, world and blues from around the world’.

Two of the biggest names in folk music, Dave Swarbrick and his band Whippersnapper, headline the Kirkgate Centre’s summer season, on Saturday, June 20. Formed by Swarbrick (of Fairport Convention) in 1983, Whippersnapper was an acoustic super-band – one of the truly great English folk bands – and have reformed for a one-off, short tour. The Kirkgate is one of only five dates in the country.

High-octane, bagpipe-blasting Celtic festival favourites The Peatbog Faeries return to the Kirkgate on Thursday, July 24.

Local talent taking the stage include much-loved favourites, such as the Music Masters Big Band, led by local legend Billy Bowman, on Saturday, July 12 and the New Riverside Jazz Band, from Lancaster, on Saturday, June 28.

The Kirkgate’s Monday night cinema season continues with New-Zealand docudrama Out of the Blue (15) on June 9, and Waterlillies (15) on June 16, a French tale of adolescent turmoil.

You Heard it Here First!, two Friday-night shows, on Friday, June 13 and Friday, July 4, feature weird and wacky sketch-shows such Andrew O’Neill’s ‘Totally Spot-on History of British Industry’ – stopping off in the county on the way to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Visit www.thekirkgate.com for complete listings or call 01900 826448 for more information.