Folk dancers and musicians will be making their way to St Albans on Saturday, June 24 for a day of music and dancing.

St Albans Folk Festival will culminate with a concert featuring the award-winners The Furrow Collective, winners of the Best Group award in the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards, at 8pm at the Maltings Arts Theatre.

They will be preceded by Alison Frosdick and Jack Burnaby, experienced performers who won the Watford Folk Club 2016 songwriting competition with their song on the theme of crime and punishment, which they will include in their set in the concert.

Also playing is New Roots 2017 finalist Bláthnaid McCullagh comes from an Irish family in Honiton in Devon. As well as re-interpreting traditional Irish folk songs, she explores a wide array of roots and folk music from different cultures.

This year 18 dance groups will be taking part in the Day of Dance in the city centre. Seven of them are from the area, including St Albans Morris, Wicket Brood Border Morris, Tappalachian, English Miscellany, Young Miscellany, Haughey-McAuley Irish dancers and an Indian group, the Purnagayan Dance Academy.

The rest will coming from surrounding area plus Foggy Bottom Morris whose members are crossing the Atlantic from Washington DC. The dancing will start at 10am outside the Alban Arena, after which there will be dancing in places such as Christopher Place, Adelaide Street, Upper Dagnall Street and by the Clock Tower with all the groups coming together outside the Abbey at 15.50pm.

Local singers will join with others from further afield to give live showcase performances starting at 11am in Waterstones bookshop and then from 1pm in The White Lion, White Hart Tap, The Hare and Hounds and the Garibaldi.

For singers and musicians who want to join in there will be informal singing and music sessions in the White Swan, The Goat Inn and the Courtyard Café.

The Ver Players will also be leading a ukulele workshop in the Maltings Arts Theatre at 3pm followed by a singing workshop with the Furrow Collective at 5pm.

Shooting Roots, the folk arts project run by and for young people will be coming to the theatre to run a Funky World Band Taster workshop and a Give-it-a-go song workshop, aimed at young people aged 12 to 18.

Families with children are invited to join in dancing and games outside the Alban Arena from 1.45pm and 3.15pm for one hour.