A JAM-packed festival showcasing the wealth of musical talent in Otley kicks off next weekend.

The three day event - Otley Music Festival - features a sizzling line-up of local musicians and will be officially opened by mayoress Linda Hoare.

Otley Music Festival was originally planned to take place in June 2020 but was forced online due to social restrictions caused by the pandemic. Now the event, which will take place over the weekend of June 10-12, will finally go ahead attracting top musicians from elsewhere in the country.

Kicking- off the fun on Friday June 10 will be singer/songwriter Edwina Hayes, who has performed all over taking in top events and venues from Glastonbury to the Royal Albert Hall . She has also toured extensively with Jools Holland and Nanci Griffith, who described Edwina as having “the sweetest voice in England”. Outstanding Anglo/Scottish folk duo Janice Burns and Jon Doran will headline the acts on Saturday evening (June 11) and throughout the weekend there will be a number of seasoned local performers including Hazjak, The Broomies, Jon Budworth, Strumash, Andy Aitchison, Chimes, Redwod River Band and Ulallele to name but a few.

Many of the performances will be held in Otley Parish Church, with a finale outside the Horse and Farrier pub on Sunday afternoon and evening. All profits will be donated to the church’s Local to Global charity initiative, which is currently supporting Caring for Life and Kisiizi Hospital in Uganda.

Organiser Paul Briscoe said: “We are very lucky to have hugely talented people who collaborate together, write and perform just for the love of it here in the town; they add so much to the town and wider community in the process and this is their chance to show just how talented they are."

The Friday and Sunday evening sessions will be ticketed while the Saturday and Sunday afternoon events will be pay as you feel.

Paul added: “As it is intended as a community event, we have tried to keep the prices down as far as possible to make the music accessible to all. But we are urging audience members to please buy your tickets early as it helps us very much with the planning of the festival and, of course, we don’t want you to miss out.” All remaining details, including a full programme, headline acts and ticket links, can be found at: https://otleymusicfestival.wordpress.com/