Twice BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners, The Young’uns present ‘The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff’ a timely tale of a boy who walked out of poverty, a teenager who stood up to racism, a soldier who fought fascism and an old man who inspired a new generation.

16 original songs will interweave with the late Johnny’s own recorded voice to tell a remarkable story of one man’s impulse to react to injustice wherever and whenever he saw it

“In the summer of 1939 as war clouds loomed over Europe, a 19 year old lad from Teesside visited the House of Commons. He had just returned from fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Hearing footsteps coming down the corridor he turned to see the figure of Winston Churchill approaching. Churchill looked the teenage soldier up and down, took his cigar out of his mouth, and said ‘Would young men like you be prepared to fight against Hitler?’ The lad took a deep breath before he answered. ‘Mr Churchill,’ he said, ‘I’ve been fighting Hitler all of my life.’ His name was Johnny Longstaff.”

This very special concert by the acclaimed Young’uns tell’s Johnny Longstaff’s incredible from the day it began in abject poverty in Stockton On Tees in 1919 to that chance meeting with Churchill in 1939.

Tickets / Further Info: http://www.theyounguns.co.uk/live/

“Joyous folk music sung with stirring urgency – and when the humour crackles these songs skyrocket”  ★★★★ The Guardian