The Friday afternoon I met Simon Heginbotham in Saltaire, Bradford band Terrovision were setting up for a charity gig in Titus Salt's Victoria Hall.

Few avowedly rock bands pass through Viccy Hall's venerable portals. The last one I remember was a Cream tribute band several years ago, and pretty good they were too.

The previous Sunday night I had gone to the concert by Rainbow Chasers and Last Orders: my first folk outing in the village.

Simon said: "Financially, Sunday night was hopeless; it cost us a stack. But that doesn't matter. If there are enough successful gigs to cover the costs of the ones that aren't financially successful that's fine.

"We don't get any grant or Arts Council money. Why should taxpayers pay for music that only a few want to hear - about 85 for that concert."

"Normally we need 300 to 400 ticket sales. An arts centre can run a gig with 200 people in the audience because they don't have to hire the hall or equipment. Bands like Dervish sell out (they're back in February); Eliza Carthy sells out; Salsa Celtica sell out (they're back in late April).

"Normally we have tables and chairs. People can sit round and have a drink. Occasionally, we have a standing gig. If we have Salsa Celtica - a mixture of Scottish, Irish and Latin American music - people like to get up and dance."

Simon certainly likes to dance to the music. At the Rainbow Chasers gig the floorboards behind me thundered quietly - if such a phenomenon is possible - as the amiable bearded bloke waved his arms and put his body through its paces. He was the only one dancing, everyone else was listening pretty intently.

He was born in 1965, in Bedford. After deciding not to join the RAF he came to Bradford in 1991 and stayed with T&A reporter Andy Cawthorne for a while. He worked for the old National & Provincial Building Society when mutuality was still an honoured principle.

After a year abroad on famine relief in Sudan, Simon returned to Bradford where he resumed working for the N&P and then, after the merger, with Abbey. His job was made redundant. A naturally resilient bloke, he next worked for Education Leeds for a year. When we met he was doing agency work for bands.

Simon was not the first organiser of folk concerts at Victoria Hall. Mandy Farrar, who owned the Bodhran bookshop in Victoria Road, was the first. She sold the shop and in 2005 moved away to Cornwall with former Bradford Festival director Allan Brack. They now earn a living as painters.

Simon restarted the Saltairelive concerts in October, 2003. Why?

"Because I was travelling to Newcastle and Manchester to see bands I liked. I decided to try to get Saltairelive going again to bring these bands here. About four years went by after Mandy packed it in before I took it up.

"The first gig was Kathryn Tickell (the North East piper). She cost a couple of thousand. The concert itself - hiring the hall and the PA system - cost up to four grand. It was great that the first gig was sold out. It covered the cost of putting it on and put some money in the bank.

"People like the hall. Part of the attraction is the feel of the place that we manage to create. We pick up on what Mandy did. Its the atmosphere as well as the music, that attracts people. Also we have people who help. A man from the New Beehive comes and puts the bar in at the back. Someone else does food for the band.

"The people who run Victoria Hall are great. You can go somewhere and the caretaker says, Oh, it's more than my job's worth'. Here they go out of their way to be helpful. Phil, Howard and Stacey always want to say Yes you can' rather than No you can't'. They take pleasure in helping to make it work."

Simon puts on six or seven shows a year, in the autumn and spring, and goes for the best bands he can afford as the main attraction. This strategy enables him to take a chance with the support act, especially if ticket sales exceed his expectation. He is willing to take a risk with promising talent.

"You don't sell tickets according to how brilliant you are. Last Orders are fantastic young musicians, but they don't yet have the recognition necessary to headline and fill a big hall. It's how well known you are that counts.

"If I was doing rock in Victoria Hall you would have good pub bands; but because this is a niche, you've got the Rolling Stones of the folk world coming to Saltaire. The reason why Dervish are so popular is because Mandy Farrar brought them here three or four times. They said that Saltaire was their best audience in Britain. They are the best traditional folk band in Ireland."

Mandy Farrar did tell me that some musicians were a pain, refusing to meet the public or be friendly. Simon acknowledged that he had known that, but preferred to emphasise the other examples.

"Kathryn Tickell was lovely. She's been here twice now. The first gig we had in 2003 sold out. Four hundred people bought tickets. She arrived at 4.30pm, but the PA system didn't turn up until 5.45pm. She was really gentle and nice and we had a great gig. She could see we were under pressure but was so mellow.

At the interval the bar was running out of booze; we had underestimated the demand. She was in her dressing room waiting for a drink, so I had to go over the road and buy her some. People forgave us for getting that wrong because the music was so good."

Some bands, especially the better-known ones, demand extras, riders they're called in the music business.

"A member of one band asked for a bottle of vodka and cans of cider in case he wanted to get plastered after the gig. We have never provided girls and haven't been asked to. We usually ignore riders and most bands are not precious about it. One agent asked for six litres of orange juice and 24 cans of pop for one band member who was teetotal. He thought that was ridiculous."

Could he make reasonable money for himself by putting on these shows?

"If every gig worked really well you would make money, yes. But some gigs aren't like that. If there is a band we really want to bring over and put on, we budget to break even. When Kate Rusby was here - it was one of the last gigs of this size that she did - she was really mellow and lovely. She prefers playing all-seated theatre gigs because people are less likely to make a noise. But she loved it here because people came to hear the music.

"As long as Saltairelive can pay its way I will keep doing this. We have to do a lot of grass roots stuff. We do a lot of standing outside gigs handing out flyers. It's a bit of a grind on a wet Tuesday night outside Leeds City Varieties, but it's great when people look at what we're putting on and say Wow!' and ask for a ticket. We don't have a venue brochure like St George's Hall, so we have to get out there and do it. It's a bit of a grind, but when you see a lot of people enjoying themselves it's worth it.

"I want to put on stuff that I know about, stuff that I love. I will put on folk bands that are not my favourite if the audience wants it. Many people like tribute bands, but I don't want to put them on. I'm not into that at all."

  • The first four concerts of 2008 will have as main acts Dervish on February 10; Shooglenifty on March 14 supported by The Park Bench Social Club; Dochas on April 3, supported by Benjamin Wetherill; and Salsa Celtica on April 27. For more information about Saltairelive gigs log on to www.saltairelive.co.uk