About Us

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'Emily Inspires' celebration of Emily Wilding Davison's life and legacy, Morpeth, 2023
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Werca's Folk recording Ramblings for the BBC, with our Honorary Werca and Patron Saint Claire Balding.
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 Werca’s Folk, directed by Sandra Kerr, is a hugely popular choir of women’s voices, based in Morpeth, Northumberland. We sing a wide repertoire of world, folk and popular music.

Werca’s Folk are named after Werca (from whom the village of Warkworth derived its name) who is described variously as a ‘wild and witchy woman’ and ‘saintly’… very much like the choir, in fact. We are known for our passionate singing of the beautiful songs of our region, and songs which express the joys, hardships and hopes of women of all times.

Established 29 years ago, we are passionate about keeping alive traditional Northumbrian and contemporary songs reflecting women’s lives. For example, our choir director, Sandra Kerr, created a new set of songs for the celebrations of Emily Wilding Davison’s life. In previous years we have promoted the County at the London International Jazz Festival, Swaledale Music Festival The Royal Show and in Slovenia. We regularly perform across the County. In 2023 we contributed to Rothbury Traditional Folk Festival, Aln Valley Railway open days and Warkworth Village Hall. We provided an evening of song to raise funds for St. George’s Church in Morpeth and collected for Wansbeck Food Bank at our Christmas concert. So far this year we have performed to raise funds for Morpeth Gathering.

We have 34 members who travel from Melkridge, Corbridge, Wallington, Rothbury, Ulgham, Warkworth and Morpeth. We still have some original members but last year had an influx of younger women from other choirs which had stopped meeting. We kept the choir together during the covid lockdowns via zoom rehearsals, transferring IT skills to many older members who were new to technology. Our membership includes a majority of single pensioners, many on a low income.  More Here . . 

We have also produced several CDs - see our Merchandise page