BUDDING folk musicians spent a week in Durham learning from the masters. And they put their skills to good use at public performances with the tutors.

More than 300 players of all ages took part in annual workshops run by the region's Folkworks development agency. The event featured concerts in the Gala Theatre showcasing established players such as Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell.

The theatre also hosted concerts by the summer school students and their mentors. On Saturday they performed in the Market Place and at the annual folk picnic, which had to be moved from its usual site in the waterlogged dli grounds at Aykley Heads to the paved area outside the Gala Theatre.

A concert to mark the bi-centenary of Charles Wheatstone, inventor of the concertina, was held in the Gala in the early evening, followed by a finale show devoted to Scottish and Irish music.