We are thrilled to reveal our programme for Autumn/Winter 2026. We’ve managed to bring a couple of long-term targets to South Gloucestershire, as well as rounding off the season with our now-famous festive concert.

 

The season kicks off on Friday 18 September with a visit from RANAGRI, who we’ve wanted to book for a long time. Renowned for their commanding live performances, Ranagri deliver a sound that is both intricate and expansive. Soaring vocals, rich harmonies, and driving rhythmic energy intertwine with masterful instrumentation - flutes, whistles, harp, bodhrán, hammered dulcimer, percussion and guitars - forming a virtuosic and immersive soundscape around lead singer Dónal Rogers. The result is a musical experience that feels at once intimate, powerful, and unmistakably anthemic. Opening the evening will be award-winning alternative folk vocal duo NIC JANAWAY & SARAH OWEN, who perform with a powerful, resonant live energy, coaxing listeners deeply into the hearts of traditionally-rooted songs, through daring and wayward recompositions, space-filling vocal harmonies and minimalism-inspired interlocking instrumental work.

 

October’s concert will see TARREN in the headline slot, on Friday 16 October. Formed in 2021, this trio is creating New-Folk music, inspired by the English tradition while incorporating modern influences and their trademark modular hooks and riffs. They released their debut album Revel in 2022 to high critical acclaim with the album being likened to Faustus and Lau’s iconic debut Lightweights and Gentlemen. This success was built on in 2024 with the release of their second studio album Outside Time. Tarren is fast becoming known for intricate and dynamic arrangements of traditional and original material, tight musicianship, a forward-thinking outlook, and an inclusive and engaging on-stage presence. Supporting the trio will be RHONA MACFARLANE, a rising Scottish singer-songwriter whose emotive voice and evocative storytelling have been described as ‘casting a gentle spell over her audience’.

 

TOBY SHAER, ARCHIE MOSS & JACK WARNOCK will be our headline guests, on Friday 20 November. A brand-new trio formed by three seasoned session musicians, this collaboration between Archie Moss, Toby Shaer, and Jack Warnock was born out of a shared love for traditional music from the UK, Ireland, and mainland Europe. Since meeting in 2019, the trio have established themselves not only as dynamic performers but also as sensitive re- interpreters of the tradition. This trio approach their craft and arrangements with delicacy and thought, drawing influence from a plethora of traditions. A collaboration of three like-minded musicians presenting folk music through a contemporary lens. Opening the evening will be ERIN MANSFIELD. Known for authentic, bold interpretations of traditional music, they’ve developed a distinctive sound, delivering songs with a powerful three-octave voice, addressing social issues.

 

We’ll round off the season on Friday 18 December with our festive concert, which has become a highlight in the diaries of local music-lovers. We’re thrilled to welcome back THE WILDERNESS YET to headline the show. This new trio combines the acclaimed talents of folksinger Rosie Hodgson, traditional fiddler Rowan Piggott, and guitarist-flautist Philippe Barnes. Independently, they have earned audiences’ esteem as consummate musicians; together, they weave an eclectic tapestry of traditional and original songs and tunes; from a cappella three-part harmonies to luscious instrumental arrangements. As is now traditional, the evening will begin with a set from HEARTWOOD CHORUS, a Bristol-based folk choir who sing original arrangements of songs whose murky origins stretch back centuries and centuries, songs our grannies taught us and future classics from the thriving contemporary folk scene.

 

All four concerts will take place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND as usual, and seating is unreserved. Tickets are £15 in advance (£17 on the door) and are available online HERE, and from Downend Cards & Gifts (correct cash only). There is also the option to buy a season ticket for all four concerts for £50, which saves a few pounds as well as booking fees. All tickets are non-refundable. There will be a full bar at all concerts, as well as a prize draw, all proceeds of which go towards booking our support artists. Doors open at 7.00pm for a 7.45pm start.

We're really excited about this season, and we hope you will be too. Keep supporting live music, it’s becoming more and more important with every passing month! For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.

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THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

After the success of the ceilidh during our 10th Anniversary Celebration in 2024, we are delighting to announce that we will sign off for the Summer break with another dance and supper, in partnership with CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND, on Friday 17 July.

As before, we welcome Bristol's finest ceilidh band, THE MOLECATCHERS, while a fish & chip supper will also be provided by Downend's own GOOD FRYDAYS. The meal is included in the ticket price. Anyone requiring an alternative meal should contact us before booking.

Tickets for the ceilidh, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 17 July 2026, are available online HERE, as well as from CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND Parish Office and Downend Cards and Gifts. They are priced at £15 each (£10 under-18s if accompanied by a paying adult), in advance only, and are strictly limited to 100. Doors open at 7.00pm supper will be served at 7.30pm and the dancing will begin at around 8.00pm. Please note that this event is not included in our Summer Season Ticket and is a stand-alone event in partnership with CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND.

There will be a bar, stocking cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from Bristol’s HOP UNION BREWERY. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own glass/mug/tankard, as well as reusable bottles for water, as part of the drive to be more environmentally aware; there is a 50p discount for those that do. There will also be sweet treats available at the bar courtesy of Radstock-based THE GREAT CAKE COMPANY.

For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.
 

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

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Is BELINDA O'HOOLEY Reform's worst nightmare? Is she the anti-Farage? She is, after all, everything that the cut-price Mosley is not; she has integrity and honesty, has passion and Pride (with a capital P), she's thoughtful and intelligent, full of compassion and love and she is, above all else, wonderfully, gloriously brilliant. If Belinda O'Hooley ever ran for Prime Minister, I would vote for her.
 
 
She's been to Downend before, of course, as O'Hooley & Tidow with her partner, Heidi. Now she is solo, just her and (for the most part) a piano. Oddly, by taking something away, O'Hooley has added something magical. She has become an assured voice, someone who presents something small in the palm of her hand and just says "look, here's the whole world". It's the same thing that Kate Bush does, that Suzanne Vega does. 
 
Except that O'Hooley can make you cry while you gape in wonder at the story she tells you. Matthew and Ted is about a man and his dog and it hides, she says, "something big in something small". It is the most beautiful, most tender, most heartbreaking thing you'll hear. Her voice is comfort-calm, just telling of a walk, of friends, of love but in it there are multitudes. Threaded around graceful piano notes there's the simple thought - "I ask what love is". It's a question that I suspect that the likes of Farage have never asked in their lives.
 
On Hawkward, taken from her debut solo album Inversions, her piano rolls and tumbles, like children chasing each other down a grassy bank. Until she sings "I am soaring" and everything is laid out in front of you, with clarity and honesty and a heart-stopping freedom. It's the sort of song you want to tuck into your breast pocket and keep close to your heart.
 
 
O'Hooley ties much of this evening around her family. She introduces The Swallow's Tail as one of her dad's favourite reels, her piano hums and thrums through the space, it pecks and thumps creating a swell of catharsis. She admits to "buggering about" with the tune, but it's a glorious inversion, not a destruction. Skibbereen, too, is a nod to her dad, it's an old Irish tune which has a filmic waltz at O'Hooley's fingertips.
 
If there's one thing for sure, it's that she knows her audience. She asks "so, did anyone vote Reform?" as if that were the most ridiculous concept imaginable and, for those around her, it is unthinkable. She then launches into Chinese Whispers, a song about fear mongering and the spreading of hate. She worries about the removal of Pride flags and gives the whole thing a flash of accordion driven, Berlin cabaret. History tells us, of course, that some people didn't like accordion driven cabaret songs. Downend loved it.
 
By the end Belinda O'Hooley revels in the love that Gentleman Jack and The Ballad of Anne and Ann engender. There's dancing and whooping and, eventually, a standing ovation that is richly deserved.
 
 
If all of this wasn't enough, the evening starts with the incredible singer-songwriter GREN BARTLEY. He's been here before, too, but that was twelve years ago. Back then his songs were wonderful, his voice a lovely John Martyn-esque hum. Nothing's changed, he's still fantastic.
 
Hold the Line buzzes with a shruti box and lyrical guitar lines, it is slow and gentle until it just floats into the June night, humming to itself. There's a brain-snagging chorus in Perfectly Crazy, a thrilling high wire act with an acoustic guitar as a safety net. It's yet another song this evening that shows you the details so that you understand the big stuff. Oh, it's so good.
 
The Thief and I does that brilliant thing of feeling like an old folk song but sounding like a new one. The guitar cascades around some classic storytelling. He might have been away for a while but it's great to have Gren Bartley back again.
 
In these turbulent times, there's really only one thing to do - Vote O'Hooley because, after all, things can only get better.
 
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell
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  1. NEXT AT DOWNEND FOLK & ROOTS: BELINDA O'HOOLEY + GREN BARTLEY
  2. REVIEW: "THIS IS MUSIC THAT CRACKLES AND LEAPS AND DOES ALL OF THE GOOD THINGS"
  3. NEXT AT DOWNEND FOLK & ROOTS: THE CHARLOTTE CARRIVICK BAND + ERIKA OLSON
  4. PROGRAMME FOR AUTUMN/WINTER 2026 REVEALED