Top musical duo and some 'deft and daft' comic poetry

First up, two top musicians start their summer tour on Friday, May 1, at Stamford Arts Centre.

Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine’s new album Things Found in Books is an album of songs written in response to a notice board in Culzean Castle’s second-hand bookshop littered with things that have dropped out of books.

Letters, notes, photographs, old receipts, postcards, fragments of people’s lives which has been lovingly collected and kept on a board on the wall amongst the bookshelves.

Boo and Yvonne have formed an inimitable songwriting partnership weaving these ephemeral stories with their own, creating an album full of nostalgia and beauty, hope and longing.

Boo Hewerdine is an acclaimed award-winning English singer-songwriter now living and working in Glasgow. Eddi Reader enjoyed international success with the hit single Patience of Angels (written by Boo) in 1995. He first found fame as a member of the band The Bible (formed in the 1980s) and has worked as a producer with such acts as The Corrs and Chris Difford, and has written songs for k.d. Lang, Marti Pellow and Natalie Imbruglia.

Yvonne Lyon is among the UK’s brightest and best singer songwriters and her most recent album Growing Wild is her tenth solo studio album release.

Yvonne consistently combines poignant lyrics with strong, creative melodies demonstrating a voice that can be both fragile and intense. She has guested on to live sessions with Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 and recently completed a master’s degree in Songwriting and Performance from the University of West Scotland.

The evening starts at 7:30pm, tickets are £20 (£18 concessions)

The following night (May 2) also as part of the Verse Festival, John Hegley is bringing his new show, The Further Adventures of Monsieur Robinet, to the Arts Centre.

John began performing at the Comedy Store in London in 1980, going on to perform (with backing band) on Carrott’s Lib and recording sessions for John Peel. He had his own series’ on BBC Radio including Hearing with Hegley (1996 to 1999) and The Adventures of John and Tony (1999). He has had over 20 books and three albums released.

John Hegley's father was half French (the bottom half), and his comic poet and songster son has continued to dabble in the cross-channel heritage with imaginings in the rotundish shape of Monsieur Maurice Robinet, who is a playful and benevolent influence on both the world and its words (largely English, it should be noted).

In this new show John presents tales about a Frenchman with some unusual [but clean] habits, which include burying his dog’s kennel and his own luggage pieces. The stories appear alongside other new works, which include an address to aliens on the subject of transport, a poem about a non-talking parrot and and the demonstration of cardboard animals.

Deft and daft, the audience are invited to sing along. But not to dance. Much.

The show starts at 2pm, tickets are £10 (£8 concessions).

Tickets – and more details on the festival – from www.stamfordartscentre.com