STEVE Knightley, the singer songwriter half of the nationally acclaimed folk band “Show of Hands”, put in a barnstorming performance to a full house at St Helen’s Church in Alveston on March 18th. Alveston? I hear you say. Isn’t that the sleepy village round the back of Thornbury? Well not any more. A while back St Helen’s Vicar, Rev’d Dave Pole, decided to remove the pews and put in flexible seating so that the church could be used for a wider range of community activities. This has enabled them to organise a stunning series of exceptional concerts. Steve Knightley was the first artist of the 2015 season and really got things off to a flying start.

Steve, with his signature set of hand made musical instruments, treated the packed church to a range of music from traditional English tunes, to his own contemporary writing, with a Bob Dylan tune and a Dire Straits cover thrown in for good measure. The heart of Steve’s performance is always the songs that he has written, sometimes anthemic tunes that you think you have known forever, like “Cousin Jack” and “the Galway Farmer”, others wry, witty, acerbic observations of modern life, such as “Roots”. Between the songs Steve entertained the audience with amusing stories of his long career singing in and around pubs and clubs in the South West and beyond. This concert was part of Steve Knightley’s “Grow your Own Gig” tour; having sold out the Albert Hall with Show of Hands, Steve wanted to take his music to a new audience by playing an extended schedule of small community venues up and down the country.

Well, the good people of Alveston and its environs lapped it up, singing along lustily to “Santiago” and repeating the chorus of “Cousin Jack” long after Steve had finished singing. Any funds raised from the concerts go towards the upkeep of the church, but as Rev’d Dave Pole says: “We are so excited to bring music of such quality to our community”.

So what’s on next? On Friday May 1st, St Helen’s is hosting Miranda Sykes, Rex Preston and Grant Gordy. These rising stars are building a huge reputation for dazzling musicianship and tight soulful vocals. Rex is simply one of the best mandolin players in the world, Grant plays the guitar like a modern Django Reinhardt and Miranda sets this off with rock solid bass playing and a pure and beautiful voice. Also booked for later in the year are Phil Beer in September, Chris While and Julie Matthews in October and Peter Knight’s Gigspanner making a welcome return to complete the season in November.

For further information or tickets for any of these events at St Helen’s email steve.c.hitchins@gmail.com or call on 07973 496525.