FOLK South West is putting on a series of workshops in Chippenham for people to sample the music from the era of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The workshops are being held as part of the 2006 celebrations of the life and work of Brunel and the first event will be held tomorrow.

The workshops are open to anyone with an interest in local history and in developing their musical skills and will cover subjects like playing in a band, harmony singing, songwriting and oral history.

The session on playing in a band will be led by Ed Rennie, is open to any acoustic instrument and will work on specially written arrangements of English folk tunes.

Carolyn Robson will lead the workshop on harmony singing using a mixture of traditional music from Brunel's time and some newly commissioned works.

Musical experience is not necessary for either of these workshops.

Brunel's achievements and stories are used as inspiration for the songwriting session, led by Jacqui Haigh, to create new songs that explore life in Brunel's time.

Eddie Upton and Philippa Toulson will lead the session on oral history asking questions such as; how will today's social history be relevant tomorrow?

The session will be a beginners' guide to collecting and documenting people's memories and experiences.

Each workshop costs £8, or £5 for concessions, with tea and coffee included and will run from 10am to 4pm at St Mary's Primary School, Rowden Hill, Chippenham. For more information contact Folk South West on (01935) 822911 or visit www.

folksw.org.uk