Julie has been a member of the Ramsbottom Orchestra since 1998 and also regularly performs with Bolton Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Baroque Orchestra and occasionally does free-lance work with other amateur orchestras.

She has lived and worked in Bury all her life starting the violin aged 8, at Primary School and won a prize for Music whilst at school, she played with Bury Youth Orchestra for a number of years and soon after studying A Levels at Peel College, began playing with Prestwich Concert Orchestra.

Julie worked in Bury Primary Schools for 22 years and was Music Co-Ordinator at Fairfield Primary School for 19 years where she led a successful school choir, recorder ensemble and school band, winning prizes for Recorders and Band on several occasions in the local Ramsbottom Music Festival. She is presently a Supply Teacher for Bury LEA.

In recent years, she has widened her musical experience playing with local folk groups, bands and musicians and regularly performs with the Lancashire Song and Dialect performer Sid Calderbank (see below) in local and national folk festivals, Dartmoor, Saddleworth and Chippenham. She has also appeared on TV accompanying clog dancers in Queen Street Mill as part of Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages series and performed on Kersal Moor with a string quartet, accompanied by Sid and Michael Portillo for the Great Railway Journeys series, during 2016 she performed at BBC Radio Lancashire on two occasions accompanying the Britain’s Got Talent finalist, Ella Shaw.

Julie also accompanies clog dancers, performing in local schools, at dance and folk festivals. She has also recorded CDs for local artists and musicians.

Julie also featured in a recent edition of “Celebrity Antiques Road Trip”.