FOR 40 years the Houghton Weavers have brought fun and frivolity to the music scene with their sing-a-long folk songs.

Mixing jokes and anecdotes with raucous traditional songs and ballads, the band — featuring Tony Berry David Littler and Steve Millington — are still going as strong as ever.

Throughout their colourful career, they have released more than thirty albums and appeared on numerous TV and radio programmes, including their own series Sit Thi Deawn.

But more than anything they simply love to play music — and perhaps their most well known pair-up is with fellow Westhoughton favourites Wingates for their Folk and Brass concerts.

The two bands will join together once again at Rivington Barn next Wednesday, September 16.

Singer Tony Berry said: "It started off as an idea that I put to the band about 14 years ago and it has been a fabulous success ever since. It is set in a very relaxed atmosphere where they are not competing as brass bands often are. We do it for fun.

"They do a bit, we do a bit and we do some together. Basically we have our own 28-piece backing band. They are very talented musicians — several of them do arrangements of our music so we play a couple of Houghton Weavers songs together.

"It's a gorgeous location at Rivington Barn — and I always say they have the finest toilets in the North of England. The vast majority of our concerts there have been sold out. It's always a good night."

It has been a tough few years for Tony, who is recovering from a cancer diagnosis which affected his singing.

Tony said: "About two years ago I was diagnosed with having polyps on my vocal chords which turned into cancer of the larynx. I had to go to the Christie hospital in Manchester for blasts of radiation.

"By the 14th session I lost my voice and when we performed with Wingates I could barely sing or speak at a whisper, so my brother came to help us out.

"At the end people were saying it was the best show we'd ever done."

The music business has changed immensely since the band first released Howfen Wakes in 1976.

Tony said: "There are some brilliant acts out there — and some equally bad ones. Sadly programmes like the X Factor only show us a small percentage of what's out there and what looks good on TV. The others don't even get a look in.

"But you will find that trends and genres always go round in circles. Folk is very in vogue at the moment, which is obviously a good thing and I'm sure that blues and jazz will also have a revival at some point."

Despite playing for four decades, the band do not plan to slow down any time soon.

Tony said: "About 30 years ago, one member of the band coined the phrase, 'keep folk smiling' — and that's been our motto ever since. We know the odd tear jerking song but most of them are played for a bit of a laugh and a sing-a-long. We get the audience to join in and let them do the work.

"We've played at a variety of venues at all sorts of 'dos — funerals, weddings. We've sand in big auditoriums, intimate venues, inside, outside- everywhere. We still love it.

"To still be here 40 years down the line, we must be doing something right. Without the audience we wouldn't exist, so we are so grateful to them that we are still going."

Tickets for the Rivington Barn event can be ordered by calling 01204 696984 or 07970 131460.