Houghton Weavers

The Houghton Weavers are an English folk music band formed in 1975. The band began in Westhoughton in Greater Manchester, historically part of Lancashire, England. The band members are Steve Millington and Jim Berry, with Peter Frampton on guitars. Millington and Frampton played together in 70's country band Poacher. Millington joined in 1996 and Berry became part of the band in 2017. Jim's brother Tony Berry had been an original member of the band and died in June 2019.
Original members of the band were Norman Prince John Oliver, Denis Littler, David Littler, and Tony Berry.
They sing mainly English folk music, much of it in a Lancashire dialect, as well as folk versions of easy listening hits. The group's song subjects include "The Blackpool Belle", "Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls", and "The Lion of Vienna" in honour of footballer Nat Lofthouse. They are best known for their BBC TV show Sit Thi Deawn. The programme ran for six series or seven years and was a mixture of easy listening music and comedy for a local audience. The group also starred in six of their own series for BBC Radio 2.

History

In 2014, lead singer Tony Berry was unable to perform due to throat cancer; he attended as a sound mixer. He recovered and continued singing with the band. In June 2019, it was reported that he had died of pancreatic cancer.

Quotations

"With 'folk' you either think of something like the Houghton Weavers, or proper folk." – Andy Kershaw