BURY folk fans are in for a treat next month when an award-winning musician brings his poignant and powerful show about a mysterious fiddle made a century ago.

Sam Sweeney had no idea that the story behind a violin he bought eight years ago would drive him to write a show about its history.

The instrument, which appeared new, was labelled with the date 1915 and Richard S Howard and the words 'Violin No. 6, Made in the Great War'.

Research showed that the violin maker was called up to service and killed in the Battle of Messines in West Flanders, Belgium, before he could complete it.

Sam, together with Bellowhead bandmate Paul Sartin and acclaimed concertina player Rob Harbron, will appear on stage with award-winning storyteller Hugh Lupton to tell the story of the violin that lay unfinished in a Manila envelope for nearly a century.

The show, Made in the Great War, is a tribute to Richard's life.

Sam, aged 26, said: "It feels a bit like fate. If I hadn't done the research then this story might not have come to light. It makes you think how many other stories are just waiting to be discovered.

"A lot of people have been to visit Richard's grave, so I went and took the fiddle so he could hear what he had made. I played there for three hours and by the end everyone was crying. It was very emotional."

Sam, fiddle player in contemporary folk band Bellowhead, found the violin eight years ago while shopping for one in Oxford.

He said: "I fell in love with this fiddle which I thought was brand new. After I bought it I noticed it had 'Violin No. 6, Made in the Great War' on the side, so I did some research. I found out that an amateur fiddle maker called Richard Howard had carved the pieces of the violin, but was called into service before he had the chance to glue the pieces together and give it strings. Sadly he died in battle so never had the chance to finish it.

"We will never know what happened in the meantime. I've read about his family in the census but there's no way of knowing about how the pieces were put together and how it ended up in the shop in Oxford — almost 100 years after it was first carved."

Sam's love of folk music started at a tender age and was inspired by his parents.

He said: "I started playing when I was six and played folk music from my parents' record collection and I took to it naturally.

"By the age of 12 I was being paid to play professionally, despite being very young. I was playing in festivals, so I have been very fortunate.

"I went to uni in Newcastle to study folk music and lasted 17 days before I was asked to join Bellowhead. We've enjoyed mainstream success too, but we are splitting up after the lead singer wanted to pursue other things and we decided it wasn't right to carry on without him. It's sad, but it is good that we can go out on top."

Sam — who won Radio 2's Folk Musician of the Year 2015 and is a regular on Bolton DJ Mark Radcliffe's Folk Show — will perform his Made in the Great War show at the Met in Bury on September 4.

He said: "It has been a mental year. The folk award is the highest one that you can get in the folk scene, so to be picked next to so many amazing musicians is a huge honour.

"I've played at the Met many times and I always enjoy my concerts there. It's one of the best arts centres in the country — they really look after you well there and the audiences have always been great. It's crazy how the north west has such a massive following for folk."

Sam Sweeney's Made in the Great War is on at the Met in Bury on September 4.