POLISH up your Lancashire dialect and shine up your clogs! Fylde Folk Festival 2001 is coming to Fleetwood on the weekend of August 31 and September 1 and 2.

Performers from Australia, Canada, the USA and Zimbabwe will be descending on Fleetwood to entertain with their own brand of folk alongside the home-grown Fylde-based talent.

And special pre-festival concerts -- including an appearance by ex-TV regulars the Houghton Weavers -- will be staged from August 26 as a run-up to the main festival, which gets going on August 30.

More than 125 events will be taking place at venues throughout Fleetwood during the festival, including concerts, pub sessions, workshops, ceilidhs, heritage walks, a craft fair and outdoor dancing displays, as well as competitions to promote interest in old traditions, such as the Lancashire and Cheshire clog dancing contests and the Lancashire dialect verse competition on September 2.

A series of workshops aimed at young people will run throughout the weekend, culminating in the Young Performers competition. And the musically challenged can also make their voices heard in the "Worst Singer in the World Contest".

Weekend tickets cost from £38, all-in day and evening tickets for Saturday are £22, and Sunday tickets from 10am to 6pm cost £19. Children up to age 10 go free and those aged 11 to 14 pay half price. Session tickets are available from £5. For more information contact the festival secretary, 55 The Strand, Fleetwood, tel: 872317 or fax 878382.