The Victoria played host to the superstar of the modern British folk scene, Kate Rusby, the lass from South Yorkshire with a voice like an angel, who was making her first appearance in Halifax.

To be more precise she shares something of the vocal colour of Joan Baez and Crystal Gayle and the vibrato of Buffy Sainte-Marie, but everything she sings appears firmly rooted in the British folk she was brought up on.

Taking material from her many albums, from the first, the Mercury-nominated Sleepless, of 1999, to the most recent, Awkward Annie, she richly entertained the capacity audience, not least with her unforced reminiscences about her dog, Doris, and the teeming life she appears to have encountered in Barnsley and on the road.

Most of her material was in the ballad tradition and Polly, a rare happy folk song, certainly raised the pulses. Her own composition Take My Hand was beautifully plaintive. The exquisite White Cockade, dating from the 1790s, was one of those folk standards without which no 1960s' concert used ever to be complete.

Particularly memorable were two wistful songs, The Lark and The Sweet Bride, both penned by her, as well as that old favourite, the story of William and Davie, twins who loved the same girl.

Ably supporting were Anna Massie on mandolin, acoustic guitar and violin, Andy Cutting on accordion, Andy Seward on banjo and Swedish-based Ian Carr on lead guitar.

This was a night not to be missed.