A POPULAR folk band are giving back to a venue that supported their early beginnings.

The Trials of Cato will perform a gig to raise money for the Saith Seren Welsh Centre on June 28. The band includes two sons of Wrexham, Robin Jones and Tomos Williams, and Wil Addison is the third member from Yorkshire.

They play a mixture of lively folk music with diverse influences, including from Wales, England and even from Lebanon, where all three lived for a year, and sing in Welsh and English.

Audiences across the country have been amazed by their musical ability, energetic songs and humourous presentations.

Earlier this year the band won the award for being ‘The Best Emerging Band’ in the Welsh Folk Awards competition.

Their album and ‘Hide and Hair’ has won much praise and attention on Radio Cymru and British Radio. DJ Mark Radcliffe from Radio 2 referred to them as “one of the real discoveries on the folk circuit in recent times.”

They have come a long way since they played one of their first gigs in the area at Saith Seren back in June 2017, and then again in 2018, and the two evenings were very successful.

Recently, they performed a gig at Tŷ Pawb, and so much was the demand for tickets, a second night had to be arranged.

They have won crowds of followers across England and Wales, and beyond. They played in front of hundreds of people at the Interceltic Festival in Lorient, Brittany in the summer of 2018 and won rave reviews.

Chris Evans, chair of Saith Seren said: “We are extremely grateful and proud that The Trials of Cato have come back to play here, and offered to help us at Saith Seren to raise money for the centre and

help secure its future.

"We are hopeful of putting together a scheme that will enable us to purchase the building in the near future, and the proceeds from this evening will be very useful toward that goal."

Robin Jones from the band added: “We are delighted to come back to Wrexham as it is mine and Tomos's home town, and especially to come to Saith Seren, who were very supportive of us when we started out.

"The centre is very important as a venue for live music, and with many similar places closing recently, we are delighted to be able to help secure the future of Saith Seren."