An Afternoon of Music, Song and Dance – Sunday 31 May 2026 Shirley Harry
We were delighted to bring our ‘Afternoon of Traditional Music, Song & Dance’ to a completely new venue this month – the Fromus Centre, in Saxmundham. The centre has is very well equipped with lots of parking, even though it perhaps wasn’t the easiest to find!
There were lots of new faces alongside more familiar participants and things got off to a jolly start with an intro tune from the ensemble led by Tracey Wisdom, Michael Cherbanoj, and who were joined by Paul, Bill, Mike, Alan and Ann.
Eammon Andrews performed a stirring song, Doreen introduced stepdancing – and was joined by a enthusiastic beginner. We enjoyed performances by Alan on his recorder, both Ann, and Bill Johnston led tunes on the melodeon, followed by a fiddle tune from Paul.
Songs were performed by Eammon, Dave Pring, Marianne, Mike Acott, Tracey Wisdom and John gave us a sea shanty.
After a welcome break (the cakes were obviously delicious as we had absolutely no leftovers!), Michael Cherbanoj of Mepal Molly explained a little about Broom Dancing and demonstrated, accompanied by the musicians. Jill Pring, Alvar Smith and Noel all gave wonderful renditions of songs.
Our jigdolls were introduced by Doreen and while several of our number had a go with our demonstration jig dolls, Doreen, Michael and Eammon performed some more step dancing.
It is always a treat to find a new venue for these afternoons and, given the warm and enthusiastic welcome we received, we hope to return soon.
A Good Ole Norfolk Tune-Up at Erpingham Spread Eagle
Sunday 17th May
It has to be said that we were rather a select bunch on this late Sunday afternoon, as illness and clashing events had thinned our ranks somewhat. Despite this, we were collectively more than able to field a team and what ensued were several enjoyable hours of traditional music making into the early evening.
As ever, the band rolled out sets of jigs and hornpipes, polkas and schottisches, with the occasional waltz changing the tempo. Dancers danced – Barry Mobbs and Monica Rackham waltzed and glided through the polka; there was much step dancing too, the room’s wooden floor proving an ideal platform, and Monika Wiedemann showing that schottisches certainly are ideal step dancing tunes, as well as Josh Dart showing his prowess throughout. Not to be outdone, Sheila Park’s dancing doll, made for her by Harry Cox, also put in an appearance several times in the course of the event.
The two dulcimers of Richard Blake and Tom Knights were, as always, an instrumental highlight, with Tom reeling off tunes learned from grandfather Reg Reader and both players sparring off each other – duelling dulcimers perhaps – with such as the On the Green / Pony Trot Polka set.
Interspersed with this were a variety of songs from various of us in the company, a key – but unintended – theme of which seemed to be poaching, transportation and the press gang, not infrequent subjects in the songs of our forebears though. Mention must be made too of Rosa Dart’s lovely duet rendition of Little Cock Sparrow with her father, got from the recording of Suffolk singer Roy Last, and seemingly something of a family tradition.
In all, a satisfying time, despite the absence of several stalwarts, and therefore a more subdued atmosphere in some ways, although a rollicking good tune-up in the main. We next turn our attention to south Norfolk – Shotesham Globe on Sunday 14th June, from 4.00 to 7.00.
1 Town, 11 Venues, 45 events, 250+ Performers, 25+ Stewards promoting local, regional, national and international folk music.
Stepdance Showcase- EATMT
Storytelling – S ASTRO
Pub Sessions – C Gill
Workshop leaders – C Gill
Morris Dancers – S Astro
Concert Artists – C Gill
A wonderful day and evening, packed full of music, song, dance, talks and storytelling took place across the town of Stowmarket on Saturday 21st September thanks to a huge number of individuals and groups.
For a selection of photos and video, head to our YouTube channel where you can find several short clips created by one of our Community Liaison workers – Bethany Last :
Working on the event since October 2023, we were grateful to have Voluntary Artistic Director, Alan Bearman and a fantastic TMD Team of 14 people who were responsible for bringing a full, varied and FREE day programme to the town and a selection of FREE and ticketed events in the evening.
Successful funding applications from Mid Suffolk District Council’s Community Development Fund, locality budgets from Mid Suffolk District Councillors covering the Stowmarket Area and Stowmarket Town Council, enabled the day to go ahead free of charge to all visitors. Support from the various venues across the town enabled us to achieve such a wide and varied programme and we were delighted with the involvement of the local business and voluntary communities who supported the event leading up to the event and on the day.
Visit our TMD TEAM page for more details of contributors to the day which includes TMD members and local involvement all of which played a crucial part into bringing the town to life. Our TMD News Page also gives more information about additional support.
Our Project, Stowmarket on Show, which formed part of our Community Development project focused onthe local community. We shared our local music traditions but alongside this gave the opportunity to local singing groups to share details of their organisations. Whilst working on programming some local singing groups to showcase at Traditional Music Day, it soon became clear that as a town, Stowmarket has a wealth of singing groups on offer – daytimes and evenings. We also know it’s so very good for our mental health. It is highly likely that there will be a group suitable to your own singing style!
The local businesses and organisations in Stowmarket also did not fail to impress over the year. Our Jig Dolls on Summer Tour (featured on our TMD News Page) showcased a wide selection of the town’s businesses – most being independent businesses – and we were grateful to everyone who agreed to be involved in this publicity campaign.
During the day, we were joined by three wonderful Storytellers, all from East Anglia. Our lead Storyteller was John Row who has travelled the world telling stories. He was joined by two other talented and popular storytellers – Dave Tonge and Chris Richardson who were representing the East Anglian Storytelling Festival – who’s home is also based in Stowmarket. As the three tellers went around popping up across the town’s venues telling tales, they also shared news about their new Storytelling Club which will be coming to Stowmarket soon.
Follow this QR code/link above to keep in touch with the plans.
Musicians, storytellers and dancers were in the main sourced from East Anglia – showcasing the very best of professional and amateur traditional and folk artists in our region. There were also a handful of artists involved who were invited from further afield – Ellen Mitchell (from Scotland) and Bill Murray (from Devon) being our furthest travelling artists.
On a national level, the event featured on the Classic Folk Show – a weekly, 2 hour radio show presented by Mike Norris (a great supporter of EATMT ) on behalf of the English Folk Song and Dance Society (EFDSS) and we were delighted to welcome sound recordist Jowan Collier who spent the day and evening recording various events for theBritish Library with the plan to add these wonderful traditions to the libraries archives. Sally Whytehead from the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club – a national organisation in existence since 1992 which boasts of members across the UK, Europe and America – joined us for our Dulcimer event which included talks about recent finds and a Have a Go session.
The Larks They Sang Melodious – featuring Alvar Smith, recorded by J Collier for the British Library archive
But this event went even further afield than England and Britain…
The event was promoted across Europe because it fell the weekend before European Folk Day and our event was promoted as part of this bigger day and Volunteer Stewards were also drawn from a local, regional, national and international pool! Of note, Shez Wright from Australia and Lou Hayden from Canada.
We are grateful to Bethany Last who has been working as a community liaison officer as part of the Community Development Fund promoting this event locally across our social media platforms and who is also in the process of creating a Traditional Music Day 2024 playlist on our EATMT YouTube channel which features MP3s, photos and video – many of which have been shared by our visitors to Stowmarket for the day.
Team TMD meet again at the end of October to evaluate, take stock and then plan for September 2025. Watch this space!
The legendary Suffolk Horseman and traditional musician tells tales from his long and entertaining career.
12.30pm-1.30pm Ballad of Essex and Beyond
Potiphar’s Apprentices
Named after Charles Potiphar who sang ‘The Sheffield Apprentice’ to Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1903, they sing songs from the 17th Century to the present day, collected in and around Essex which are from their latest CD ‘Ballad of Essex’.
The legendary Suffolk Horseman and traditional musician tells tales from his long and entertaining career.
12.30pm-1.30pm Ballad of Essex and Beyond
Potiphar’s Apprentices
Named after Charles Potiphar who sang ‘The Sheffield Apprentice’ to Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1903, they sing songs from the 17th Century to the present day, collected in and around Essex which are from their latest CD ‘Ballad of Essex’.
