Meet The Players

Helen hails from Taunton in Somerset and began learning the clarinet aged 7. She has been folk dancing since childhood, gaining an interest in playing folk music at college. She went on to co-found the University of Southampton Folk Society in 2010.

With a degree in languages, Helen lived in Brittany for a year, where she undertook an ethnographic research project exploring Breton folk music and dance, as part of her studies. After graduating, Helen worked as a woodwind teacher for Hampshire, Southampton and  in Southampton schools. Alongside Threepenny Bit, Helen regularly plays with other groups, including Monkey See Monkey Do and a duo project with fiddle player, Lewis Wood.

With diverse interests from Irish trad to European balfolk, Helen is keen to put the Clarinet front and centre in all of her musical projects. She has recorded six albums to date; most recently, a balfolk album entitled Violet Sky (Dec 2024) with fiddle player Lewis Wood (Granny’s Attic). Helen is also a published composer with two of her tunes published in Faber publication Folk Tunes from the Women (2022) curated by Kathryn Tickell.