2023 EVENTS
FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2023
Playford Dance
4-piece: Caroline, Ian, Edwin & Jon
Caller: Louise Siddons
Bierkeller, 4 The Quay, Exeter EX2 4AP
SATURDAY 23 APRIL 2023
Shakespeare's Birthday Celebrations, Oxford
2-piece: Caroline & Edwin
Procession from Oxford Castle to the Painted Room on Cornmarket
SUNDAY 7 MAY 2023
Coronation Celebrations - Community Concert
Iffley Church Hall
2-piece: Tim, Ian & Edwin
2-4pm (Tim, Ian & Edwin 2-2.30)
ADMISSION FREE (donations for Refugee Resources)
SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 2023
A 17th-century Christmas
Holywell Music Room, Holywell St, Oxford OX1 3BN
5-piece: Tim, Caroline, Ian, Edwin & Jon
3.30 (matinee) 7.30 (evening)
Ticket details tbc
The Oxford Waits at the old Abbey Buildings, Abingdon 2019. Left to right: Ian Giles, Edwin Pritchard, Caroline Butler, Jon Fletcher & Tim Healey. (Photo Ed Nix)
'Terrific entertainment’ Brian Kay, BBC Radio 3
The Oxford Waits take their name from a real-life band of city musicians, known as 'waits,' who flourished in Oxford during the 17th century. Performers appear in period costume, and concerts are enlivened by street ballads, dance tunes, airs and rounds as well as readings from diarists and poets. Superb singing voices are matched by specialist skills in an array of period instruments.
Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oxford-Waits/824064510950392
LINE-UP
The five piece:
Caroline Butler (vocals, baroque violin)
Ian Giles (vocals, hurdy gurdy, percussion)
Edwin Pritchard (vocals, fiddle, hurdy gurdy, nyckelharpa & hammered dulcimer)
The Oxford Waits have performed at a wealth of festivals, churches, theatres and arts centres, as well as featuring on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. In 2006 they performed before her Majesty the Queen at the Royal Opening of Oxford Castle.
Go to menu bar (top left) for more information on recordings, band members, a Radio 4 programme, and the historic Oxford Waits who played in the streets of the 17th-century city.
Samples of our music can be heard on the Recordings page on the menu bar (top left)
The 5-piece band in the old Abbey Buildings, Abingdon (photo Ed Nix)
Tim Healey (narrator, vocals, shawm, recorder, bandora)
Jon Fletcher (vocals, lute, cittern)
Bookings
A full band line-up consists of five performers, but the Oxford Waits are also represented by larger and smaller combinations of musicians, as well as by individual artists in solo appearances. The Oxford Waits are available for public concerts - and for private events too, such as banquets, fairs, themed parties, school visits, weddings and Civil War re-enactments.
Bookings: tel 01865 249194
The Oxford Waits have often played for period dances, as here with the Vale Island Dancers in Oxford Town Hall (photo Chris Bates)
‘Thank you for coming and playing for us, we had a wonderful time. I've heard such lovely feedback from the dancers about your session.’ Kit at the Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival Exeter, 2023
‘You made the dancing easy even for beginners with your lively, articulate playing.’ Louise Siddons (caller)