Folk heroes Vin Garbutt, Spiers & Boden, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan among star guests for September 7-9

Two of England's leading family bands are among the big names appearing at this year's 45th anniversary Bromyard Folk Festival on the weekend of September 7th, 8th and 9th.

The latest generation of the celebrated Copper Family are travelling from their home county of Sussex to perform from their rich and fascinating collection of English traditional songs. Meanwhile The Mighty Doonans family band is heading from the North East of England with a lively repertoire of English and Irish folk-rock and spectacular step-dancing.

One of the longest standing folk festivals in the country, this year's event remains as popular as ever with its a packed and lively 170 hour programme of music, song and dance to appeal to all ages.

Highly respected duo on the English traditional music scene and founder members of the big band folk phenomenon, Bellowhead, John Spiers and Jon Boden are also among the weekend's big attractions. Their distinctive foot-tapping sound on squeezebox, fiddle, guitar and stomp-box brings the atmosphere of the friendly back-room music session to the big stage.

Award-winning singer-songwriter from Teesside Vin Garbutt makes a welcome appearance at Bromyard after his 42nd year on the road with tours of Canada, USA, Holland, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia. To the delight of his thousands of fans across the world, Vin's singing is as powerful as ever, as is his sense of humour.

From Canada, award-winning and highly-rated songwriter David Francey will be at the Festival, accompanied by superb lead guitarist Mark Westberg. Anglo-Australian duo, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan is another popular draw thanks to their scintillating arrangements from the traditions of their respective home countries, with breathtaking instrumentals, strong harmonies and brilliant audience rapport.

And the weekend offers a chance to enjoy the music of nationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalists Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer, renowned for performance of old and new songs on guitar, accordion, Scottish smallpipes and Swedish nyckelharpa.

Other Bromyard guests include last year's winner of the Festival's Fred Jordan Memorial Competition, talented young Yorkshire lass Lydia Noble. The annual competition is open to singers under 25 years of age and past winners have included established folk stars Jim Moray, Maz O'Connor and Niamh Boadle.

Sponsored by Wye Valley Brewery and The Co-operative Society, the Festival features hundreds of singers, musicians and dancers from across the UK. The main Festival site is just outside the picturesque Herefordshire town of Bromyard but there will also be plenty of music and dancing in the streets and pubs of the town centre.

The Festival also boasts some spectacular morris dancing, workshops, children's entertainment, craft fair, real ale bars and food and attracts many young performers and audiences, keeping traditional music alive and relevant to today's tastes.

Festival Director, Dick Dixon is delighted that the Bromyard is popular with music fans of all ages. He says, 'Bromyard Folk Festival is a perfect setting for musicians and singers across the generations to perform together.

'In 45 years, the event has become widely known as a family-friendly event with many of our regular audience members - and performers - coming here since they were toddlers.

'It's proof positive that the future of folk music is safe in the hands of such an accomplished new generation of artists,' he says.

Weekend and day tickets are available with discounts for families, NUS card holders, juniors and young adults. Enquiries and requests for information updates can be made on 0799 062 9203.