Fans of traditional music are gearing up for an east London community’s first folk festival.

The Walthamstow Folk Festival will take place next month featuring award-winning musicians from across the UK and Ireland.

Organiser Tim Chipping who writes for fRoots, a folk and roots magazine, has wanted to hold the festival in Walthamstow since moving there 15 years ago.

After viewing one of the theatres at the arts venue Mirth, Marvel and Maud in Hoe Street, he knew it was the perfect place to host the community’s first event of its kind.

Mr Chipping said: “Holding a folk festival where I live is a dream that I have had for a long time.

“There’s something about a folk festival that is quite different from other festivals.

“It always becomes a community event and an all-ages event. I have seen how it worked for other people at long established festivals.

“I knew when I saw Maud it would be a great location for the festival. It’s just a lovely venue with a fantastic history.”

BBC Young Folk Award winning piper Brìghde Chaimbeul will make the trek down from the Isle of Skye and Irish sean-nós champion singer Nell Ní Chróinín will also give a performance.

Other acts lined up include Kathleen MacInnes, Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker and locals Stick in the Wheel.

Tickets for the one-day event are £27.50 and guarantee entry to the theatre hosting the headliners.

There will also be tune sessions, performances by Morris dancers and a late night ceilidh in the bar area which are free to attend.

Mr Chipping has taken inspiration from Sidmouth Folk Festival, the oldest of its kind in the country, where he has worked for many years.

He added: “What folk music is about is continuing to sing the old songs in your own way.

“It’s the music of the people and it has survived for such a long time.

“It is music that was invented when there was nothing else to entertain so it has to be fun.

“I am very excited about it and everyone seems really enthusiastic about the festival.”

Walthamstow Folk Festival will run from noon to late on Saturday, August 26 at Mirth, Marvel and Maud, Hoe Street, Walthamstow.

For more information and tickets visit www.facebook.com/WalthamstowFolkFestival