About Us

Announcement 2025 - after much discussion and deliberation it has been decided to postpone our concert planned at The Hawth in Crawley on 8th November. Also, the planned gig at Eastbourne Lamas Festival on 2nd August is off due to the organisers postponing until 2026. 

We will keep this website open until the end of 2026 to advise of  any forthcoming events. After 35 years !!! we have had a blast but due to distances and involvement in many other projects it has become increasingly difficult to plan and deliver what we have always been able to do in the past.

We hope to be able to perform at Lamas in 2026 when the organisers find a suitable new venue, possibly not in Eastbourne. In the meantime a scaled down acoustic version of Touchstone will announce on here where and when we are going to perform and look forward to seeing you then - Tarradiddle Den!!

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2020 started with lots of activity to finalise the recording of our 5th CD album ‘Dirty Hands Clean Money’ - Mark & Bonnie performed at several local folk clubs in early 2020 playing many of the new songs with great success. We were well on the way until the inevitable when Covid 19 hit and all of our launch gigs and festivals planned for 2020 were cancelled.  

However, once the Covid restrictions were relaxed we completed the album and the 2nd half of 2021 was almost ‘normal’ with a performance on the Crawley Hawth’s main stage on 27th June as part of the ‘Cask Festival’ and our successful CD launch at the Hawth’s studio theatre on 15th October. A greatly successful acoustic gig at Horsham Folk Club on Sunday 14th November saw the introduction of new member Sally Mounter on fiddle who will add to our line up when Chris Jewell is unavailable. Sally will also join Chris on stage for gigs where we can all play.  

Please see our events section for 2024 gigs where we have some great performances at festivals  across the South East. See also our Facebook page.

You can purchase the CD's  from this website by contacting the band direct and orders will be sent direct. Payment is simple via BACS also our albums are now available to download on iTunes and all the usual streaming digital platforms.

Feedback from Touchstone followers for the new album has been really great and here are a few messages from long-time fan Paul Warne plus other recent compliments:   

 “I enjoyed the gig very much - thanks all (!) - and I thought it went really well. Your new CD is excellent and puts the previous one in the shade - although in my opinion 'Poacher' and 'Sea of Providence' remain some of the very best songs in the band's repertoire. 

The latest CD has great variety and is very good value.  I'm enjoying the Kent band, Green Diesel, and bought 2 of their CDs after seeing them at this year's Broadstairs Folk Festival. But after seeing Touchstone I realise why you are still the best folk-rock band around, and I can't wait for your next gig! It will be marvellous if the flute can be brought back in a live gig via either Kimberley or Rowena.” 

 "Great concert, definitely worth my journey up from Somerset to attend." Jonathan Clark 

 "Essence of Touchstone (Acoustic) provided us with a great evening of musicality" Horsham Folk Club

"Touchstone are a band that others should be judges against" - Folk on Tap Magazine

Announcement 2025 - after much discussion and deliberation 

2020 started with lots of activity to finalise the recording of our 5th CD album ‘Dirty Hands Clean Money’ - Mark & Bonnie performed at several local folk clubs in early 2020 playing many of the new songs with great success. We were well on the way until the inevitable when Covid 19 hit and all of our launch gigs and festivals planned for 2020 were cancelled.  

However, once the Covid restrictions were relaxed we completed the album and the 2nd half of 2021 was almost ‘normal’ with a performance on the Crawley Hawth’s main stage on 27th June as part of the ‘Cask Festival’ and our successful CD launch at the Hawth’s studio theatre on 15th October. A greatly succesful acoustic gig at Horsham Folk Club on Sunday 14th November saw the introduction of new member Sally Mounter on fiddle who will add to our line up when Chris Jewell is unavailable. Sally will also join Chris on stage for gigs where we can all play.  

Please see our events section for 2024 gigs where we have some great performances at festivals  across the South East. See also our Facebook page.

You can purchase the CD's  from this website by contacting the band direct and orders will be sent direct. Payment is simple via BACS also our albums are now available to download on iTunes and all the usual streaming digital platforms.

Feedback from Touchstone followers for the new album has been really great and here are a few messages from long-time fan Paul Warne plus other recent compliments:   

 “I enjoyed the gig very much - thanks all (!) - and I thought it went really well. Your new CD is excellent and puts the previous one in the shade - although in my opinion 'Poacher' and 'Sea of Providence' remain some of the very best songs in the band's repertoire. 

The latest CD has great variety and is very good value.  I'm enjoying the Kent band, Green Diesel, and bought 2 of their CDs after seeing them at this year's Broadstairs Folk Festival. But after seeing Touchstone I realise why you are still the best folk-rock band around, and I can't wait for your next gig! It will be marvellous if the flute can be brought back in a live gig via either Kimberley or Rowena.” 

 "Great concert, definitely worth my journey up from Somerset to attend." Jonathan Clark 

 "Essence of Touchstone (Acoustic) provided us with a great evening of musicality" Horsham Folk Club

"Touchstone are a band that others should be judges against" - Folk on Tap Magazine

In 1991 the band recorded their 1st album ‘The night the snow came down' and this received wide critical acclaim and secured many festival dates and gigs. Interviews and recorded live sessions followed on radio Sussex and in 1992 the band started their long association with Crawley Folk festival up to the current year 2014 (23 consecutive years) and Eastbourne Lammas since 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 (planned return 2015).

Local press and magazines have always supported Touchstone and our events and in 1995 the band were featured on the front page of 'Folk-on-Tap' with a 2-page interview.

Although still a semi-professional band, Touchstone became more and more popular as both a Ceilidh band and performing group and was one of the most heavily-booked bands in the South East for many years. 

The Wivelsfield Ceilidhs were an annual event, highly supported along with several charity bike ride events where the band raised a few £000's for local charities and played in several Sussex pubs as part of the 25-mile bike rides - great fun.

1995 saw the release of the CD ‘One the rum' which sold through all the major record stores in the South East, and many festival performances and supports to bands like Show of Hands, Fairport Convention and The Oyster Band. Touchstone had now carved a niche for writing traditional songs based on Sussex historical events and gained further popularity both at gigs and on record.

1995 also saw Bonnie & Mark winning the prestigious ‘Best new artist' award at the National Folk Festival in Loughborough run by Brewhouse Records. At this time the band and as a duo became their busiest period. Bonnie and Mark received good reviews for their 1998 Album 'Silently Calling' in Folk Roots magazine, as well as getting one of the tracks 'Gold Rush' voted into the top 10 most liked tracks by local artists in the Mid Sussex Times Music round-up that year.

Always best live, Touchstone gigs are lively and entertaining.

In 1997 Chris and Lynn moved away from Sussex to Milton Keynes and this affected the opportunity to play live. However, in 1999 Touchstone performed at a sell-out gig at the Hawth Theatre in Crawley to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Soon after this, they were down to 5 members as flautist Lynn departed the band to concentrate on new projects.

The constant cord for the band has been their incredible unbroken run at Crawley Folk Festival of 28 years, and 2006 saw them headlining on the main stage (unfortunately clashing with the England v Portugal World Cup match).

Touchstone and Bonnie & Mark as a duo have played at  Winchester, Broadstairs, Ely, St. Neots, Hobbs Farm, Gosport, Chippenham, The National Folk Festival, Togfest, Cecil Sharpe House and Crawley Folk Festivals plus numerous other smaller events.

In 2000 the band released ‘Wine Barrel Jigtarrel' and re-recorded many of the tracks originally only available on the 1991 cassette album ‘Snow' plus a good selection of Ceilidh band tracks. The final 4 tracks are live from Bonnie & Marks support to Show of Hands in 1998 with Touchstone members. The next 3 or 4 years seemed to pass by without much activity, most band members were also involved in other musical projects, and distance apart affected our work.

After this period of inactivity, Touchstone performed an acoustic set to a large and enthusiastic audience at the 2005 Crawley Folk Festival and were inspired to work on the last album ‘Sea of providence' which was released in July 2006 - this unfortunately clashed at Crawley Folk Festival with the world cup when England lost! but has subsequently proven very popular.

2007 was a difficult year for Touchstone with Chris Jewell finally departing to live in North Devon where he now plays as well as teaches music in schools. The lineup then went on to include Harriett Wilder on fiddle and we played a few festivals including the disastrous 'Big Culture Show' in Haywards Heath on the same bill as Chas and Dave, the Feeling (and Bob the Builder!) This lineup carried through 2008 when major changes took place in our ranks.

2009 saw new members Ruth Stevens (fiddle), Rowena McArthur (flute), Marianne Hillier Brook (drums) and John Sandford (bass, vocals) join Bonnie and Mark in a new Touchstone lineup and things started to happen again.

2010 - was the bands busiest year in a long time both as an acoustic and electric unit.

After much consultation and reconciliation, it was decided that the original line-up would continue to play whenever possible along with new members Marianne, Val Will, John and Rowena as appropriate. 

In 2016 we completed our 25th consecutive year at Crawley Folk Festival along with various acoustic gigs, all great fun.

May 2017 - Touchstone have just completed another successful gig at the Hawth Folk day (28th May) playing to a full audience and are well on their way to recording their 5th studio album, but unfortunately the release date has been postponed to 2018 (finally  released in 2021) due to unforeseen circumstances, and postponed gigs at Eastbourne Lammas Festival and the Hawth main theatre in Crawley were rescheduled for 2018 (finally October 2021) Kimberley Burden (Bonnie's daughter) has taken over from Rowena on flute while Ro and her family live and work in the Middle East for 5 years or so.

Touchstone acoustic played at the Hawth Folk days in 2018 & 2019 playing alongside Julie Felix! To great success and efforts were directed towards writing and recording the new (Dirty Hand Clean Money) CD.

2020 started with lots of activity to finalise the recording of the new CD album ‘Dirty Hands Clean Money’ and Mark & Bonnie performed at several local folk clubs playing many of the new songs with great success. We were well on the way until the inevitable when covid 19 hit and all of our launch gigs and festivals planned for 2020 were cancelled.

However, once the Covid restrictions were relaxed we completed the album and 2021 has been almost ‘normal’ with a performance on the Hawth’s main stage on 27th June as part of the ‘Cask Festival’ and our successful CD launch at the Hawth’s studio theatre on 15th October. A greatly succesful acoustic gig at Horsham Fold Club on Sunday 14th November saw the introduction of new member Sally Mounter on fiddle who will add to our line up when Chris Jewell is unavailable. Sally will also join Chris on stage for gigs where we can all play.

You can purchase the CD's  from this website by contacting the band direct and orders will be sent direct. Payment is simple via BACS.

Events are now being booked and can be seen on the events page for 2023.

Feedback from Touchstone followers for the new album has been really great and here are a few messages from long-time fan Paul Warne plus other recent compliments:

“I enjoyed the gig very much - thanks all (!) - and I thought it went really well. Your new CD is excellent and puts the previous one in the shade - although in my opinion 'Poacher' and 'Sea of Providence' remain some of the very best songs in the band's repertoire. The latest CD has great variety and is very good value.

I'm enjoying the Kent band, Green Diesel, and bought 2 of their CDs after seeing them at this year's Broadstairs Folk Festival. But after seeing Touchstone I realise why you are still the best folk-rock band around, and I can't wait for your next gig! It will be marvellous if the flute can be brought back in a live gig via either Kimberley or Rowena.”

"Great concert, definitely worth my journey up from Somerset to attend." Jonathan Clark

"Essence of Touchstone (Acoustic) provided us with a great evening of musicality" Horsham Folk Club