DORSET music group The Ridgeway Singers & Band, led by Phil Humphries and Tim Laycock, have collaborated with the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester to bring to life traditional music, folk songs and carols from the collections hidden in their archives.
Their findings will be performed in a special Dorset Music Unboxed concert in Blandford this weekend as part of Artsreach’s county-wide events programme.

Among the musical manuscripts held by the history centre are those of William Knapp, an important Dorset musician of the 18th century who composed the well-known hymn tune Wareham.
One of Knapp’s pieces being performed in this concert was dedicated to Blandford after a huge fire destroyed most of the town in 1731.

Works from the music book of Benjamin Rose will also feature in the programme. Rose was a farmer and alehouse keeper from Belchalwell, near Okeford Fitzpaine, who wrote down a collection of catchy country dance tunes from his time (1820).
Further songs will be taken from the Hammond manuscripts, which contain almost 700 folk songs collected in Dorset by the Hammond brothers between 1905 and 1908.
Dorset Music Unboxed! is at Blandford Parish Church on Saturday, March 4, at 4pm.

Further information and tickets are available from 01258 480698 and online at www.artsreach.co.uk