Meet the team

George Papavgeris (chairman) 

Experienced club and festival artist with eight albums to his name, George has been a folk and world music enthusiast and performer for 40 years. As a singer/songwriter, he has toured in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and seen a dozen of his songs covered by international artists.

Kelly Alcock (secretary) 

A freelance project manager in museum exhibitions and displays, Kelly has been attending and helping out at folk clubs for the past 20 years. She is on the organising committee of Raise Your Banners Festival of Political Song and has been a volunteer at countless folk festivals.

Colin Grantham (vice-chairman) 

Colin is an experienced folk club and festival organiser and attends lots of different folk clubs and festivals each year. He also writes and performs monologues in singarounds.

John Richards 

Singer and songwriter John has run a folk club and toured for many years as a soloist and with various folk groups. His songs have been covered by numerous artists including Fairport Convention, Show of Hands, Robin Dransfield, Paul Downes, Bill Caddick, Damien Barber, Michael Black, Bram Taylor and Tom McConville.

Peter Slavid 

A retired marketing manager, Peter is a trustee of EFDSS, helps out at Uxbridge Folk Club and plays an active role in festivals including Shrewsbury, Warwick, Beverley, Musicport and Celtic Connections. Also a fan of modern jazz, Peter hosts an internet radio show on ukjazzradio and advises a collective of London jazz musicians.

Pete Willow 

Writer and musician Pete has run folk events for over 40 years. His media work has included a long-running folk column for the Coventry Telegraph and writing copy for the Warwick and Bromyard Folk Festival programmes. He was awarded a PhD for research on amateur music-making based on three Midlands folk clubs.

Sam Hawcroft 

Sam is a regular member of the White Horse Folk Club, Beverley, East Yotkshire. She has been with the Green Ginger Garland Dancers for nearly 30 years (she started young!), and is also in the Hull bands Beggar’s Bridge and Fiddlers Elbow, as well as performing solo as Sam Martyn. By day she runs Hawk Editorial Ltd, which publishes H&E naturist magazine and offers a range of editorial and design services.