Quickbeam – Need Fire

24th October 2025 8:00pm (Doors open at 7:00 pm)

Kirkgate Centre

Need Fire

Four women singing in close harmony about human traditions of gathering, with storytelling, folk songs, clog dancing and startling original compositions.

A Need Fire was an old Cumbrian way of marking the transition of the seasons: Every homestead in a valley would be plunged into dark, then a single fire kindled and taken house to house, bonding communities together. Join a-capella close harmony quartet Quickbeam for a musical Need Fire – a journey through the cycle of the seasons in song and story, exploring human traditions of gathering together as the year wheels round, and we face into the winter.

Quickbeam (Old English for a Rowan tree) are four singers and musicians based in Cumbria: Abigail Driver, Alison Scott, Arwen Heaton and storyteller Jessie McMeekin, who sing a mix of traditional folk songs and original compositions influenced by blues, gospel, folk and classical music. They bring spine-tingling harmonies, startling original compositions and heart-soaring anthems, combined with an off-beat humour and down-to-earth presentation. Sprinkled like the first snowfall between the songs are Jessie McMeekin’s powerful stories, bringing a spell-binding oral storytelling tradition that has existed since the first people gathered around the first fire.

So get ready for the winter and join the gathering for this Need Fire.

Testimonials: “Quickbeam are a fantastic live act – gorgeous harmonies and a quirky sense of humour to bring a bit of light and joy into the world!” Dave Camlin

“Four hedge witches singing original and uniquely arranged a-capella songs. With spellbinding song cycles, magically combining story and song, what’s not to like about these four wyrd women?” Quickbeam

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