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Traditional Music on TV Autumn 2007
North End Voices (King's Lynn)
Traditional Music on TV Autumn 2007
Some of you will no doubt remember the well loved Anglia TV series, Bygones. Well, it’s back on your screens this Autumn, made by an independent team, but with one of the presenters from the old series, Eddie Anderson, in charge. Eddie contacted us early this year, and the results can be seen in the eastern region through November and December. A feature on stepdancing has already been screened, but look out for singer Ray Hubbard (22nd November), sea songs (6th December) and dulcimers (13th December). If you enjoy it, please tell Anglia TV, as we hope they will commission a further series and include more music. Eddie is so keen, he has even taken up the melodeon!
In June 2007, the English Folk Dance And Song Society celebrated their 75th anniversary by awarding seventy five Anniversary Awards.
We were delighted to be nominated, and the Directors, John & Katie Howson went along to Cecil Sharp House in June to receive our certificate. The award was given for enthusing others to participate in traditional music, song and dance and making a significant contribution to the field of research.
We are delighted to tell you that we now have four new patrons in addition to broadcasters and writers Paul Heiney and Libby Purves. New to the team, and all regular supporters of traditional music in the region, and of EATMT itself, are: Lesley Dolphin and Mark Murphy from BBC Radio Suffolk, and Gloria and Trevor Buckley, who manage a number of Gypsy sites in the eastern region.
For the third year, we have been working on song
activities in Kings Lynn, and this summer’s project has been fantastic. We were
approached by BBC Radio Norfolk to participate in their Celebrate North End oral
history and community project, and were delighted to be able to provide schools
and adult song workshops which contributed towards a live event, a radio
documentary and a fascinating feature on the BBC website at
www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/local_radio/northenders/
For further details, see the community projects section of this website.
As part of the project, we put together an exhibition of photographs and
information, including some original research into the singers, carried out
specifically for this project. We have put this together in a spiral-bound
booklet called North End Voices. For further information,
click here.
The Ship Inn in Blaxhall has had a long tradition of music-making, and was made famous in the 1950s through a short film, 'The Barley Mow', mad by Peter Kennedy and the BBC, which featured local singers such as Bob Hart and Cyril Poacher who both made LPs for the Topic label in the 1970s.
Through the 1970s, 80s and much of the 90s, the pub, particularly under the ownership of Jim and Sue Grubbs, continued to be a centre for singing, stepdancing and music, with Oscar Woods being the resident melodeon player for many years, and Bank Holiday Mondays being the notable days for gatherings.
In more recent years the Ship was run by people less committed to traditional pub life, and the place seemed rarely to be open, let alone the kind of place where singing and stepping was welcomed.
We, and many other people both locally and nationally, are relieved and delighted that the pub is now under new ownership, and that music and singing is now definitely welcome there again! On Easter Monday, well over a hundred people gathered to celebrate with songs, music and stepping, and the Ship felt well and truly 'launched' once more!
We were thrilled to be able to offer a unique opportunity in the UK in March 2007. Between March 25th and 30th, eight people joined a course taught by French instrument-maker and musician, Emmanuel Pariselle, to make their own high-quality melodeon.
Click here for further details.
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