HEXHAM singer/songwriter Judy Dinning is to be honoured next month at the forthcoming Joe Wilson Night that takes place in Newcastle to mark the 177th anniversary of the birth of the Bard of Tyneside.

Judy, who lost her fight against breast cancer exactly five years ago, in October 2013, released a CD called Fine Times in 2004 which featured a number of Joe Wilson lyrics put to new tunes by singer/songwriter Pete Scott.

Fine Times also contained the traditional songs Hexhamshire Lass, Water of Tyne and Blow The Wind Southerly. However, it is Judy's own composition, the title track Fine Times, that will be featured in the prestigious event that celebrates the best of Tyneside songs and comedy.

Playwright Ed Waugh, who curates Joe Wilson Night, wrote and produced the hit play The Great Joe Wilson which toured the region in September garnering five-star reviews and standing ovations.

He explained: "Joe Wilson was arguably our greatest singer/songwriter. Most people know Keep Your Feet Still, Geordie Hinny! but Joe wrote 360 songs in his brief lifetime. He died in 1875 aged only 33 having left behind a tremendous legacy.

"Two year ago Newcastle City Council put up a blue plaque in Stowell Street, Newcastle (now Chinatown), to commemorate the 175th anniversary of his birth and the first Joe Wilson Night in 2016 sold out. Last year it did too.

"Given the tremendous response, we are hosting the show again on Thursday, November 29, at the Tyneside Irish Centre, 10 yards from Joe's birthplace. Next year the show transfers to Sage Gateshead."

He continued: "The event is a celebration of Geordie culture: our comedy and great singer/songwriters, and Judy Dinning's work sits proudly among our best. She had a voice made in heaven itself.

"Fine times is a tremendous CD and the title track, written by Judy for her late father about farming in Northumberland, poetically details the change of seasons against the backdrop of an incredibly beautiful tune.

"The CD Fine Times stands alongside any work produced by the giants of the genre like Carole King, Carly Simon and Joan Baez."

Joe Wilson Night 2018 will also feature songs by Joe Wilson, Ned Corvan, Johnny Handle, Geordie Ridley, Tommy Armstrong, Billy Mitchell, Pete Scott, Alan Hull (Lindisfarne) and J P Robson.

Judy Dinning's daughter, Katie Holmes, said: "We are delighted mum's songs still have resonance today and will be performed alongside work by such esteemed songwriters."

n Tickets for Joe Wilson Night 2018 are only £16 each. Visit www.wisecrackproductions.co.uk