ONE of Ireland’s all-time most acclaimed middle of the road, folk and traditional bands, The Fureys are taking their final tour, stopping in Minehead for a last hurrah this April.

Boasting great UK chart success with songs such as I Will Love You, and When You Were Sweet Sixteen - which in turn helped bring Irish folk and traditional music to a completely new audience - the band made their Top of the Pops debut in 1981.

The group’s indelible musical footprint is rivalled only by their vast collection of personal stories of their musical experiences and friendships, gathered by Eddie and George Furey along an amazing 49-year journey.

Formerly a band made up of four brothers, Paul, George, Finbar and Eddie, and their friend Davey Arthur, after a number of inevitable changes over the years, George and Eddie are the two remaining musicians heading The Fureys.

In May 2026, the band will come to an end.

Eddie and George have said: “We will have very mixed emotions over the next number of months knowing our working lives as we have known them for so long will be coming to an end.

“We know we have been among the luckiest people on earth having a ‘job’ we love and enjoy, traveling the world to places we would never have been to, meeting people and making many friends, we would never have met.

“However, time catches up with us all and we will look to a new future from the middle of 2026 playing at the odd music session and seeing the younger Furey generation playing their music.

“Our manager Joe McCadden will also be retiring from the business after 56 years, 39 of them with us”

The Fureys will be performing all of their best loved songs at the Regal Theatre, Minehead, on Tuesday, April 1.