Cambs Stepdancer
NEWS:
The winter months are always quiet event-wise for EATMT though in the background, we are anything but. Since our last Newsletter, we have run a second Sunday afternoon of Music, Song and Dance (photos above) – a report can be found online but we’re delighted to be bringing a third Sunday afternoon event, again in Walsham le Willows, on Sunday 24th March from 2pm-4pm. It’s a free event and if you’d like to add a song, dance, tune or monologue, then please do get in touch! We are extremely grateful to Jan Robinson who has enabled this event to be run for the third time this financial year and we are grateful to Suffolk County Councillor Jessica Fleming whose locality budget has allowed this series of Sunday Afternoon events to take place.
Nicky Stockman and Alex Bartholomew during November and December worked hard to pull the final strands of the Vaughan Williams Folk project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, together by the deadline of 31st December. There are a few final pages to upload to the website, particularly in relation to the individual songs collected but even so the website comprehensively showcases the successes of this wonderful project. We presented our completed project at the EFDSS Folk Educators’ Day in November at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and also to the National Lottery Heritage Fund team in January and an article appears in February’s Vaughan Williams’ Society Journal.
Linked to some of our work on this project, Katie Howson has been busy working on the 2nd Edition of publication Blyth Voices which has sold extremely well since its publication in the early 2000s but particularly over the last couple of years and we are down to our last 40 or so copies to sell. We are planning to send this to print in the next few months.
Our Annual Report and finances for 2022-3 have just been reported to the Charity Commission and you can read the Annual Summary HERE. January has also been spent finalising plans for most of our events coming up in 2024 including confirming artists for September’s Traditional Music Day.
NEWS: Events for 2024
An Afternoon of Music, Song and Dance
Sunday 24th March, 2pm-4pm
Doors open at 1.30pm.
Free entry but donations are encouraged
Please note this event is now taking place in Walsham le Willows. We are indebted once again to volunteer Jan Robinson for pulling this third Afternoon of Music, Song and Dance together – our first event of 2024.
We’d be delighted to see you all again – either come and listen or join in with a song, dance or story.
Walsham-le-Willows Memorial Village Hall, The Street, Suffolk IP31 3AA
Traditional Song Forum Spring Conference – A Feast from the East – Saturday 6th April from 9.30am-5pm
Free event but please reserve your place
We are delighted to be collaborating with the Traditional Song Forum, an internationally recognised organisation and bringing their Spring Conference to the East of England – specifically to Stowmarket Scout Centre. Katie Howson, Alan Helsdon, Chris Holderness, Chris Heppa, Dr Hazel Marsh, Martin Nail and John Marshall-Potter are our speakers for the day covering singers Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, Fred Whiting, collector Des Miller, the Blaxhall Ship’s history of traditional singing and the newly established Gypsy and Traveller Voices in Archive. It promises to be a fascinating day with heavily focused on East Anglia.
The Traditional Song Forum is also calling for papers for a 2 day conference in London in July. Entitled “Collectomania! Folk Song and Music Collectors and their Worlds”, Steve Roud offers the opportunity to submit papers for this conference. For a bit more information on this, see our Other Events page.
More than Melodeons, Saturday 25th May – Day of Workshops and Early evening Tutor Concert
We are very excited to announce the following tutors running a wide range of Workshops at Wingfield Barns.
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, Megan Wisdom, Erin Brown and Barry Watson, Richard Blake and the East Suffolk Community Folk Orchestra will be sharing their knowledge and skills in a number of workshops.
There will be individual workshops for Piano Accordions, Concertinas, Melodeons and Dulcimers (absolute beginners). There will also be a day of singing workshops and multi-instrumental workshops so there is something for everyone. We are also delighted to be welcoming members of the newly formed East Suffolk Community Folk Orchestra who will be running a Folk Orchestra workshop.
The Tutor Concert will take place at 5pm and tickets will be on sale from March 1st.
Stepdance Day returns to its founding county – Essex!
Sunday 21st July 2024, 12 onwards
Steve and his team from The Compasses, Littley Green, Chelmsford, CM3 1BU welcome EATMT and its supporters to celebrate Stepdance Day. The pub is a Real Ale and Traditional Cider pub, offering food and even accommodation and a pub that also hosts a regular folk session.
Please note the change of date for this event!
We are honoured to have had this lovely image created especially for our Traditional Music Day events. This Mr Jolly Boy jig doll image was created by Essex based artist Karen Cater (and joint owner of Hedingham Fair) taken from a photograph of EATMT’s Mr Jolly Boy gifted to the Trust during the “Covid Years”.
Venues are booked, as are the artists listed above and we are hoping to add more names in the coming weeks. We are working with local community groups and schools who we hope will showcase some of their music, song and dance that has been put together especially for the day. There will be ticketed and free events across the town but we are hoping our regular supporters will support us by buying tickets! We are looking for a handful of volunteers to join the team for the day – please do get in touch if you’re keen to help!
Linked to our main Events Page (from the bottom of the page) we have a page dedicated to a small number of non EATMT events in East Anglia that are featured. We can’t promise to respond to all requests and we only consider adding events if we’re approached. It’s not personal if your event hasn’t been included – rather it’s down to a lack of time!
New: Articles
Burwell Bash opens its bookings on Friday 9th February and this year they are delighted to be able to offer even more Youth Funded places. EATMT offers a Bursary via its Gordon Ruddock Bursary but they have been gifted more sponsorships. Read more HERE .
Read about a newly formed Community Folk Orchestra set up in Bungay HERE
Musician and Horseman Ray Hubbard spent over 60 years researching into the History of the Suffolk Horse. This is his article which appeared in the Winter 2018 edition of the Heavy Horse World magazine: HERE
Lives Remembered
Des Miller – Norfolk Historian & Musician
It is with sadness that we report of the recent death of Des Miller – musician and historian; co founder of the Rig-A-Jig-Jig project and band promoting the traditional music, song and dance of Norfolk.
Friend and fellow band member Chris Holderness writes:
“Des was a mainstay of Rig-a-Jig-Jig, a band specialising in the local musical traditions of Norfolk. For well over a decade the band was seen and heard all over the country and elsewhere, playing their brand of local music, song and step dance. A consummate musician, adept on several instruments, Des’ steady but fiery mouth organ added greatly to the band’s drive. He was also the founder of the music project of the same name, engaging in much collecting of oral history of the county’s traditional musical heritage. A great musician, historian and man, he will be greatly missed”.
Chris has written a fuller appreciation of Des and his work which appears on the Musician Profiles page HERE
Paddy Butcher – Hurdy Gurdy musician and sharer of music
We are also sad to report of the death of Paddy Butcher – a musician with a wide repertoire and love of folk music – especially English and European – and regularly seen playing his Hurdy Gurdy, singing in local folk clubs or playing melodeon. A member of numerous bands including the Suffolk Bell and Horseshoe Band, RSVP and BOF! Not just a wonderful musician but someone who spent a lot of time supporting and nurturing other musicians and sharing his love of music.
Support EATMT
Can you put up a poster?
We are particularly interested to hear from you if you can put up a poster in your village if you’re local. We can post out A4 laminated posters to you if you think you can help. Please get in touch!
First Aid?
If you are planning to come along to any of our events and you are First Aid Trained, we’d love to hear from you. If you’re interested in helping and would like to take part in some first aid training, we’d also love to hear from you!
You can support EATMT in a number of other ways:
VOLUNTEER at events or in the office,
BECOME A FRIEND – Join our Friends’ Membership Scheme
SHOP for our publications,
BUY TICKETS for our EVENTS
THANKS
As ever, thanks go to the regular team of volunteers who provide a variety of support to EATMT. We’re delighted to continue to welcome new members into the volunteer team over the last few months and we are really grateful to everyone who steps in and up to the challenges!
We are also grateful to the following regular funders for helping us run events and projects:
