Thanks for visiting the Peter Aston website and welcome to the August 2026 update. With the continuing heatwave we in the south of England are now officially living with drought conditions – I know we always complain about the rain but we really could do with a wet few weeks now! The heat has had many implications including an earlier harvest with reduced yields.
An issue for me over the past couple of weeks is that I’ve been diagnosed with “Guitarists’ Trigger Thumb” caused by playing guitar for 60 years and the bottom line is that I won’t be able to play guitar for at least a few weeks until the condition has been treated. But I’ll still be able to sing!
If you’re visiting this site for the first time, a quick introduction – I’m Peter Aston, a Christian singer/songwriter and worship leader based at Holtwood Methodist Church which is a welcoming, evangelical church in an idyllic location near Wimborne, close to the south coast of England. I also play guitar, sing and help to lead services at churches in and around Dorset.
At Holtwood Methodist Church we’re continuing to stream our 10.45 services and these are available, live or at anytime afterwards, on our Facebook page which is:-
www.facebook.com/holtwoodmethodistchurch/live
As a member of the Stewards’ Team for the Christchurch & Wimborne Methodist Circuit I help to support churches across East Dorset and the New Forest and have particular responsibility for assisting the congregations at Blandford, Colehill and Wimborne. Some of the churches in our area are facing real challenges and, together, we’ll be seeking new opportunities for worship in the coming months and years.
I’m delighted to present two programmes for Forest FM, based in East Dorset, which broadcasts on 92.3FM and 98.9FM. ‘Forest Folk’ is on air at 8.00 on Mondays, the programme streams at www.forestfm.co.uk and you can also listen-again from Tuesdays at www.mixcloud.com/ForestFolk/ And then on Friday evenings at 7.00 I present ’33 and a Third’ which is an hour of classic and rarely-heard album tracks from the past 60 odd years – and sometimes from before then! Again this programme is streamed and is also available to listen-again on Mixcloud.
Having ‘retired’ as the caller/guitarist/singer for the Cottage Industry ceilidh band, I’m continuing to appear as a solo singer/songwriter and a medieval wandering minstrel known as Master Peter of Fayrewood. I appear at folk clubs, retirement homes and day centres and for charitable and other events, singing everything from war-time sing-along classics, through the 50’s & 60’s pop songs to traditional and original songs.
To find out more about what I get up to please click on the links at the top of this page – hope to catch up with you somewhere down the road!