Mikron Theatre travel the canals by narrowboat. They are 40 years old this year - almost old enough to be traditional.

They have built up a large stock of songs, many of them about life on the cut. For many years Jim Woodland was their song writer, with Janet Russell as musical director.

Their 2011 show was Hell and High Water, set in 1761 when the first boatload of coals was borne smoothly along the Barton Aqueduct over the River Irwell on the Bridgewater Canal.

Their new show for 2012 will be Can You Keep a Secret? It marks the bicentenary of the Luddite uprising around their base in Marsden, just beyond the Stan(d)edge Tunnel.