WILL Varley is set to open this year’s Leigh Folk Festival with a special concert at Leigh Community Centre.

The English singer-songwriter and musician, who is also one of the founding members of the arts collective Smugglers Records, has toured all over the world as a headline act since self releasing his debut album Advert Soundtracks in 2011.

He has also opened for the likes of Billy Bragg, Valerie June, Frank Turner and The Proclaimers, headlined at prestigious venues include Union Chapel and Shepherd’s Bush Empire and played in cities as far a field as Berlin,Zurich, Amsterdam and Vienna.

He has received praise from the likes of Tim Minchin and Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention, as his audience continues to grow both on the road and online. 

His self made music videos have clocked up millions of views on YouTube and the song Seize The Night is fast approaching four million streams on Spotify.

His fifth studio album The Spirit of Minnie was released in 2018.
The Leigh Folk Festival 2020 - the largest free festival of its kind in the UK - returns to Leigh Community Centre for the third year running on Thursday June 25 for its special opening night. 

Support will come from Lucy Kitt and Brother Jonathan.

Tickets are on sale now for £13 plus booking fee, available via gigantic.com/leigh-folk-festival-tickets/leigh-leigh-community-centre.

The Leigh Folk Festival opens on June 25 and continues until the evening of Sunday June 28.

As well as the two massive free events which take place in Leigh Library Gardens on the Saturday and in Old Leigh on the Sunday, there are a plethora of additional events and gigs which take place in and around Leigh and the Southend area, for the duration, from the opening night.

Theses include special ticketed events. 

In addition to this mammoth long weekend, the Leigh Folk Festival is involved in sub 'warm up' events which take place the rest of the year, such as the Leigh Folk and Ale Festival in support of the Leigh Folk Festival. 

Keep your eye on socal media and leighfolkfestival.com for more details.