A Chester musician’s folk group has scooped a prestigious BBC Radio 2 accolade.

Greg Russell, originally from Mickle Trafford and his music partner, Stoke-born Ciaran Algar, say they were ‘thrilled’ to win the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this month.

The pair have been combining their love of folk music since 2011 when they first set up their musical duo.

Since their early performances at Northwich Folk Club, the pair have performed all over the country, initially supporting acts including Lau, Karine Polwart and Kerfuffle before branching out on their own.

Last year they won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and were described as ‘ones to watch on the folk scene’.

Former Upton-by-Chester High School student Greg, 20, has had a love of folk music all his life.

“My interest started from an early age as my dad was very much interested and involved in the local folk scene,” he said.

“As well as that, folk music was the main music played in our house so there was no real escape from it!

“Having been introduced to it, it was the music that I began to love playing and listening to finding artists I liked as I went along. “There was and still also a very strong and welcoming folk scene in Chester which helped me develop and enjoy the music more,” he added.

“We were absolutely delighted to have won the award and very shocked!

“It will hopefully bring in more and more gigs and publicity so we can keep playing the music we love.

“The amount of fun we have on stage and playing the music, I hope there are many, many more years of the duo to come.”