Season’s Greetings to you all

Albeit muted. 

Behind the scenes work over the last three months has seen a pulling together of projects, a catch up on administration and the working between 2 offices hence a later Autumn/Winter Newsletter.

The early autumnal months saw the first Trustee meeting since March.  It was a socially distanced affair but we managed a face to face “proper” meeting.  Annual reports, end of previous year accounts and updating of various policies were all on the agenda as well as the obvious year of Covid.

Archiving and website work has mostly dominated 2020 in place of everything else and the need for a safe website quickly became a priority in the late summer.  We are extremely grateful to local web company Unicorn Designers for backing up, restoring, migrating, reconfiguring and such like.  We are now able to update the autumn/winter news. As the viewer of the website, not much looks different but in the office, worry that all the hard work might be lost has been diminished!

Music

George Watson’s Tune Book

An article which includes over 70 tunes from the Swanton Abbott tune book collated by George Watson in the late 1800s has now been added to the website. You can find this HERE.  The tune book came to light as a result of the Village Music Project. Once finished with the book, a copy was made available at the Norfolk Record Office which is where Alan Helsdon found it.  He transcribed the 70+ tunes and researched into George Watson.  You will find a downloadable pdf and sound file (mp3) of each tune which appear in alphabetical order as well as information about George Watson, Swanton Abbott and Jenny Lind.

John Brown’s Tune Book

In the summer of 2020 this tune book was added to the website and we have recently been contacted by “demon fiddler and geek” Flos Headford (The Old Swan Band, The Mellstock Band, Monty’s Maggot English Ceilidh Band) who has very kindly offered to transfer these tunes onto an additional music notation system called ABC (devised by Chris Walshaw).  This is currently being worked on and we hope to have this additional option on the page in due course.

The East Suffolk Country Band

As promised, the full article about this very popular band has been completed and you can now read about them HERE.  Tapes of sessions that were sent to the Trust have been digitised and a limited number of CDs have been made.  You can purchase one for £5 but please email info@eatmt.org.uk to check availability and place your order.

The Dave Cooper Collection

The first sort of this vast music collection has just been completed and the second sort about to commence.  The floorboards are not groaning as much as they were in August and homes for the West Gallery music, World/Global Music and some of the Jazz have been given new homes.  You can read about the progress HERE.

Dance

The stepdancing community celebrates the lives of Brian Whatling and Dusty Smith

It was with great sadness that we learned of the deaths of these two Suffolk Stepdancers over the last few months.  They were regular dancers and judges at Stepdance Day and EATMT are indebted for their involvement and commitment to Stepdancing. We remember them with much fondness.  You can read more about them both HERE.

The 2020 Stepdance Film

Supported by the Instep Research Team, this 40 minute film is now available to view on youtube.  We are very pleased with the result given the restrictions imposed upon us.  Most of the filming took place outside and with a limited budget.  The sound in places is poor but listening through headphones or with extra speakers helps.  The article detailing the whole project (including a link to the film) can be found HERE.

Song

Harry Cox and Sam Larner

Two Bold Singermen and the English Folk Revival is a book by music journalist and social historian Bruce Lindsay and is now available to buy HERE.

Music Box Archive

After a busy term up in Newcastle, Megan Wisdom is aiming to be in Suffolk for a brief time and hopes to add more to this music project.  Do keep dropping in HERE.  

Jig Dolls

When Ivy and Albert Met Sally

Concertina player Sally Barrett has written an article about her jig doll Albert.  He made an appearance at the 2019 Cider and Song Festival at the Museum of East Anglian Life and following a Lockdown sort out at home came across the paperwork that accompanied Albert and she tells us about his maker and first owner HERE.

Jig Doll Archive – indexing

The task of indexing Pat Pickles’ archive has fallen to new volunteer Roderick.  Roderick is a recent Maths graduate from Warwick University and is keen to get experience whilst seeking an appropriate Graduate position.  The completion of this task will then enable us to upload the digitised collection on to the website.

Jig Dolls in care homes in Stowmarket

Katie and John Howson have almost completed the filming and creation of a digital training package to enable EATMT to take the collection of Jig Dolls into care homes for staff to use.  We hope to roll this out physically in the new year.

We are very grateful to Stowmarket Town Council for providing the funding for this project and we were also delighted to receive some funding from the Concertina Charitable Trust which will go towards volunteer expenses in setting up visits and transporting the dolls across the town.

HOPE

With so many things still on hold, there is cautious optimism…An Event…Monday January 25^th 2021 – John Peel Centre, Stowmarket

Independent Venue Week (IVW) runs across the whole country for a week at the end of January and this year, kicking the week off at the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket, EATMT have been invited to programme an evening of East Anglian Story and Song.

IVW’s aims are to promote the small venues across the country who are the backbone of the live music scene and the event this year more than ever is more important than ever.  In “normal” times, the John Peel Centre seats an audience of 100 and this has been substantially reduced to 35 but the team in Stowmarket are determined to take part in the event and showcase a wide genre of artists at its venue.  Join Nick Hart for Traditional Songs from East Anglia and The Yarnsmith of Norwich for stories of East Anglia.  Tickets are £10 and VERY LIMITED so please show some support for the venue and the two artists and head to the John Peel BOX OFFICE.   

HELP!

Memories of Ruth Askew at the Blaxhall Ship

Folk East organiser John Marshall Potter has put a plea out for peoples’ memories and recollections of melodeon player Ruth Askew from Hampshire joining Oscar Woods and the company at the Blaxhall Ship in 1979/80.  For more details read HERE

Join our Friends Membership Scheme

If you like what we’re doing, please do consider joining the Friends’ membership scheme.  Click HERE to complete the membership form.

Instrument Hire

Melodeons, concertinas, dulcimers….will 2021 be the year you learn to play a new instrument? Read about the scheme HERE or email info@eatmt.org.uk for details.

Books

Visit our shop for our publications

The way this scheme works has changed!  Please note that after the end of 2020, Recycle for Charity will no longer accept the pre paid envelopes.  Instead, you can arrange for a pre paid label directly with the company – you can still select the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust as your chosen charity and instead of £1 per cartridge, we can get as much as £2 so we urge you to continue using this scheme.  There is a minimum number of cartridges you can send in order to qualify for a free postage label though this generally equates to 2-3 cartridges.  Alternatively, if you are local, please feel free to leave your empty cartridges for us via the Museum of East Anglian Life (but not during Lockdowns).   Every little helps – both the Trust and the environment.  For more information about this scheme, please see https://www.recycle4charity.co.uk/.

Supporter thanks for 2020-21

We are very grateful for the continued support from volunteers who have helped in various ways with the Trust’s work over this difficult year. 

As well as the regular contributors to the articles on the website, and helpers in the offices, this newsletter also gives a specific shout out of thanks to the Digital Copy Centre in Stowmarket for turning around a last minute postal newsletter and giving us a ridiculously good rate for doing so.  Also to Revel’s Music and Geoffrey Reeve-Black for purchasing the Trust’s 2 mountain dulcimers and finding them homes.  We are also very grateful to Chris Manning of Misty Mountain Music records and Gwyn and Owain Thomas of Thomas Rare Books who have given their time and advice with the Dave Cooper Collection.

The Scarfe Charitable Trust     

The Alfred Williams Charitable Trust             

Friends of EATMT

Piecing Things Together

We hope that this Summer Newsletter finds you safe and well and able to take steps into finding some sort of normal.

Over the last few months, we’ve enjoyed the continued ‘musical give’ from artists and musicians who have kept performing and continue to keep us entertained.  The coming months will continue to be tough for the Arts industry and already many self employed musicians are turning their hands to other kinds of work in order to survive so do give generously as they pass around their virtual hats so that they may continue to brighten our days.

Re-thinking outside of the box

Two planned projects/events had a rethink over the summer.  The first was relating to Stepdance Day which was due to be held in July at the Strumpshaw Tree Fair. Co ordinator Fiona Davies agreed to make a short video on the Trust’s behalf which showcased Stepdancing and included a short talk and tuition.  This video was included over the weekend on the Strumpshaw Virtual Tree Fair here.

On the back of this, in order to secure our Stepdance Day funding from the Instep Research Team  we decided to take this a step (no pun intended!) further and make a short film.  Keeping our visits to a minimum and being mindful of the social distancing guidelines, we decided to focus on one dancer and musician each from Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk endeavouring to capture the essence of this East Anglian Tradition.  Fiona’s tuition will also feature.  We are in the process of now editing that film and hope to have it available to watch during the Autumn.  Thanks go to: Lennie Whiting, Steve Matthews, Alfie Matthews, Mo  and Lily Allum, James Delarre, Michael Czarnobaj, Erin Brown, Barry Watson, Robbie Nash, Plug Emery, Ben Davies and Fiona Davies

The Jig Dolls project in Stowmarket Care Homes has also undertaken a rethink and we hope over the early Autumn to produce a short video tutorial thanks to EATMT founders Katie and John Howson.  With Katie providing a tutorial and short talk about the dolls, we hope we can provide a link for care home providers to access as well as loan out the box of Jig Dolls to provide entertainment over the Winter months whilst we envisage strict guidelines to be in place.

A collection or four

Over the Summer months the Trust has been gifted a number of books and a music collection. 

When Lockdown started to ease, Administrator Alex Bartholomew and musician and volunteer Megan Wisdom went to visit local collector, author and musician Neil Lanham in his garden in Botesdale, Suffolk.  Neil very generously sent us away with a bagful of CDs, DVDs, articles and books that he has produced over his fifty years of recording in order to put into the Trust Archive.  You can read Neil’s article about his Oral Traditions here.  We have listed the donated items and included several sound clips so you can “try before you buy” from his website.

We have also taken receipt of gifts from past Friends and Volunteers John Halliday, Ian Prettyman and Dave Cooper.  It is Dave’s collection which has prompted the Trust to temporarily rent an additional room in Stowmarket to house a rather large record collection.  This includes Dave’s own recordings of Folk clubs he ran over the last fifty years.  We’re not sure quite what we have got yet and are still at the box sorting stage.  However, if at the mention of “mini disks” you DON’T roll your eyes, and if you happen to have some time on your hands, then we might have just the job for you! 

Our extra office is situated at Red Gables in Stowmarket and is in the attic.  If you don’t mind stairs, and would like to lend a hand, please do get in touch (info@eatmt.org.uk). 

Website News

We are currently undergoing some site changes and we know there are some anomalies that need ironing out, so please bear with us.

East Suffolk Country Band – preview

The mere mention of this band triggered so much feedback to the Trust that we’ve produced a Preview article which you can read here. 

This incredible feedback is partly with thanks to Mardles and also the newly formed Uncle Walter’s Folk News (also published via Mardles) which has been created by journalist, Brian Gaudet focusing on Traditional Music in Norfolk. With past band members making contact and their groupies, we’ve been given some lovely memories and a wealth of information on this popular band.  Alex has now passed this information over to the man behind the idea, Alan Helsdon, to pull this information together.  He is waiting for a couple more people to finish passing on their memories so the full article can be finished. Alan has also been given several tape recordings of their sessions in Chelmondiston and Cromer which we hope, with permission, we can turn into a CD.  Watch this space!

Stepdancing Pages 

The stepdancing page has been worked on over the summer, with a page about Stepdance Day and the start of archives of past days being added slowly. Jayne Delarre has kindly given us more information about the creation of Stepdance Day back in 2000 and we have added more information about the Percy West plate.

Musicians Profiles

Ian Prettyman‘s profile now appears on this page with thanks to contributions from his friend Keith Skipper, Ian’s daughters Susan and Carol and Katie Howson.  There is also a delightful audio of Ian’s singing within this profile. 

The profiles that appear on the website cannot be added without the help and research and knowledge of other people and we are indebted for time taken by others to help preserve the memory of people who have contributed to the East Anglian Traditional Music scene.

We would like to try to include more influential and respected musicians from across the region so if anyone feels they might be interested in contributing to an article on this page, please do contact the Trust – info@eatmt.org.uk.

Archive Collection

The John Brown Tune Book (was originally titled Goff) is now added along with the audio files and downloadable pdfs of sheet music for the 27 tunes found in this collection.

The Watson collection is currently being worked on – with 25 of its 70 odd tunes having been catalogued so far.

The Music Box Archive had its obvious set back in the early Spring but Megan Wisdom is back out with her recording device and is gradually adding more singers to this archive.  Do keep looking at this page as Megan is working to get her latest singers added before heading back to Newcastle to continue her University degree.

Eammon Andrews, Judy Andrews and Derek Simpson are Megan’s latest interviewees

For those who have already contacted her, please be patient!  Megan would like to focus on Suffolk initially because it is her home county and during Lockdown this focus has been more helpful to her.  Once she is happy with the format of the recordings, she will look at the neighbouring counties.

Pat Pickles’ Jig Doll Archive

Record sleeve photograph from the Pat Pickles’ Archive

Now that the office is more accessible following Lockdown, this archive is now in the process of being digitised.  Once photographed, it will be viewable online though there’s some way to go yet… 

Book sales and Instrument Hire

Now is a great time to gen up on those tunes or read or both. Check out our online shop.  Or how about learning an instrument?  With access to the office, posting books is not an issue and neither is sorting out melodeon, concertina or dulcimer hire.  Now has never been a better time!

For those of you who have a copy of the Trust’s tunebook, Before the Night Was Out, there are now some downloadable pdfs which include an addendum sheet which is for a page that was accidentally omitted during publication and in addition to this page, an erratum page which has been designed to be cut out and stuck in and over the incorrect sections in the book.  Many thanks to Steve Dumpleton who was involved in the publication of the book for updating this.  You can find these additions HERE.

Lockdown Learners

It is noticeable how many younger people have taken up instrument hire over Lockdown.  A year ago, a Friend and supporter of the Trust donated on a long term loan basis a Hohner Accordion which it was hoped could be loaned to young people giving them an opportunity to learn a new instrument. During Lockdown, the accordion found its way to a houseboat moored in Woodbridge and below is some video footage of young Eden who is the first recipient of this instrument.

Other hirers include Will who, along with a jig doll hire also bought books and is learning pipe and tabor; our youngest hirer, Fin, aged 9 who is very keen to get back learning with his teacher, maestro Tony Hall and Rachel who has been learning Morris tunes on the D/G box and has noticed a huge improvement in her playing since Lockdown.

Events

In July the inevitable decision was taken to cancel September Song which was due to run in Stowmarket.  

In September the next Trustee meeting takes place where we will be discussing the potential workship day in Cambridgeshire which was due to run in March 2021.  We will make a decision about this and will announce it on the website in the coming few weeks.

2020-2021 Support 

We have just learned we have been successful in securing a small discretionary grant from Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Council which is in addition to the grant they awarded us earlier in the new financial year which they honoured despite being aware that it will be unlikely we would be able to fulfill our planned events for this financial year. We were also supported by Stowmarket Town Council earlier in the year as well as being supported by the Scarfe Charitable Trust earlier in the year.

Supporter thanks for 2020-21

The Scarfe Charitable Trust     
The Alfred Williams Charitable Trust
Friends and Supporters of EATMT

Friends

As ever, we are extremely grateful to our supporters who have taken out a Friends’ membership with EATMT. This is an annual subscription of £15 and since its existence has been a vital part of our income. In addition, we are able to claim back Gift Aid through this scheme. Your support is invaluable and is very much appreciated. If you’re not yet a Friend or if you are a lapsed Friend, please do consider joining/re joining. You will benefit from cheaper event tickets and early bird booking as well as knowing that your contribution to the Trust helps keep traditions alive. Find our Friends’ membership form here.

Please also be aware that if you are a Friend and pay by standing order, if you have been affected financially by the current circumstances, then you will need to contact your bank to cancel this if you feel this is necessary.  We hope it isn’t but sometimes, needs must. 

Other ways to help

EATMT is a member of Recycle4charity.  If you are working from home, you will likely be using up the ink in your home printers far quicker than normal.  These can be recycled. If you would like some envelopes for you to send your used inkjet cartridges away in order to raise extra funds for EATMT, please get in touch and we’ll send some in the post to you. 

Please do get in touch if you would like to get involved.  We rely heavily on volunteers but more than that, we rely heavily on your knowledge based input.  We’d love to hear from you! 

As ever, the final words are of thanks to the volunteers who help keep the Trust and staff in buoyant mood. Not all are mentioned in this newsletter, but you know who you are! 

Stay Safe

Alex Bartholomew, Administrator and the Trustees

Traditional Music Day September  4th 2021

Photo C Gill

Strange Spring Times

We hope that first and foremost this newsletter finds you all safe and as well as can be expected in these difficult times. As with everyone worldwide, the brakes have been applied here at Trust HQ and plans put on hold until there becomes an obvious pathway out.  We spare a thought for all of our supporters and Friends who have lost loved ones – virus related or not, for those who are working in key roles to get us through our days of Lockdown and Self Isolation and we equally spare a thought to those who are self employed, or haven’t managed to be furloughed and have slipped through the net of emergency Government support. There are so many groups of people that should be in our thoughts in these times, perhaps it’s easier to say ‘Be Kind, Be Thankful and Be Thoughtful’ to one and all.  

Everyone deals with difficult times in different ways. For many, the ‘feel goods’ that have come out of these difficult times have come from a wide group of people who will have been hit immediately and who will continue to be hit once we slowly open our doors and step outside and that is those of the artistic community.  Musicians, Dancers, Artists and Storytellers.  From the outset, the immediate giving of their creative skills has been very generous and most welcomed by millions of people across the world.    When we are able re start our lives, it is with hope that changes for the good are made and that must surely include a kickstart from world leaders to the lifeline that  Arts has been and continues to be across the Globe.  

You don’t have to look too far on Facebook and Youtube for musical happiness and there are several sessions, live concerts, festivals, tune swaps etc that are well worth a look.  It’s even possibly worth signing up to Facebook just for these times if you’re not a fan and not on this social media platform.  Mardles.org is doing a grand job of keeping us up to date with what is going on and the East Trust facebook page (which is the main one used for liking and sharing on behalf of EATMT) will continue to like and share these as and when they crop up.  

May Day!

For many, May 1st and the rising of the sun in particular on this day, represents Spring.  It wasn’t to be the usual traditional seeing in of Spring 2020 but Friend and supporter Rita Gallard put pen to paper and created a poem for the Kemp’s Men (Norwich Morris side) and asked another Friend, Alan Helsdon to find some suitable music to set it to.  You can see and hear the end result here.

A very special donation

Steve and Marilyn Monk’s daughter Rachel recently approached local shanty singer Kieron Fitzgerald with her father’s concertina.  Kieron, who is a member of Capstan Full Strength, approached Mike Acott, fellow Shanty band member and concertina restorer and in agreement with Rachel, and after Mike has made some alterations, it will be donated to the Trust.  We are delighted at this touch and in due course will announce the Trust’s plans for this gift.

On Hold, Rescheduled or Cancelled?

Rescheduled or on hold:

Our stall at Mardles’ event Wind & Strings in Beccles was understandably unable to go ahead but they have re scheduled for April 2021.  

Our Jig Doll project involving Stowupland High School, Jig Doll dance training and visits to Care Homes in Stowmarket is also on hold.  Because this involves a very vulnerable section of our community it may be that a completely different approach to fulfilling this project within this financial year and getting the dolls in and dancing might be needed but we’ll continue to watch and see.

Ruddock Bursaries 2020-2021
We had received a number of applicants for this financial year’s Bursaries, and again, this is on hold until the Trust is in a better position to make any further decisions. 

Molly Dance Project
After an awful lot of research and preparation in particular from Nicky Stockman and Gordon Philips, our application was sent off to the Heritage Lottery Fund while funds were still being accepted but understandably these funds have been re directed to Emergency Funding for their current fund holders and so for the moment, this is also on hold. 

Waiting, hopeful….

Rather than make decisions quite yet, we’re holding fire and waiting to see how things pan out regarding the Trust’s September Song day on 19th September. When we can bring more definite news, we will.  For a reminder of the details announced so far regarding this event, and updates regarding others that were planned please check out our Events Page.  We will continue to update the website with any further developments.

Cancelled

Strumpshaw Tree Fair were waiting for the latest Government updates and the organisers have now taken the decision to cancel their event for this year and so along with this we include Stepdance Day to that cancellation.    

Folk East  The organisers of this lovely festival, like many, have also held on before this announcement, but there comes a point when crucial decisions have to be made and so this too is a recent casualty of these times. 

We will keep the Events page updated with any alternative arrangements for these events.          

Obituaries

We have the very sad news of three deaths to report of. Folk Club organiser and singer Dave Cooper died in early March having been terminally ill for some time. Folk musician Chris Morley died towards the end of April also having been diagnosed with a terminal illness and news has just reached us of Ian Prettyman‘s death. 

You can read about their contributions to the East Anglian traditional music scene on the website:

Dave Cooper appears on the Musicians Profile page;
Chris Morley appears on the News page while we collate information about the East Suffolk Country Band which Chris was a member of.  If you would like to contribute to a future article about this band please do get in touch.
Ian Prettyman appears also on the News page with a write up by Katie Howson and in due course we will add more details about his contribution to the East Anglian Traditional Music scene on the Musicians Profile page.

Website News

It is apparent now more than ever, online resources are of huge benefit.  Although Trust HQ is accessible due to Alex working mostly alone there and on the site of a currently closed museum, much more work from home is being done and so these times allow for more work on the Trust’s Website.

Volunteer Alan Helsdon has been also working remotely and has very generously started sharing some of his valuable research of music, dances and musicians from Norfolk. 

Several new pages have been added across the site as a result of Lockdown and limitations.

Music for a Troubled Time

The first and temporary page created is called Music for a Troubled Time.  It is a page promoting the work of musicians’ CDs which have been launched during Lockdown and whose hope it was to promote these new releases over the Spring and Summer festivals which have rapidly become victims of the Covid-19 crisis.

There are currently just two newly released albums on this page.  If you would like something added, or you think someone else might be interested, please do get in touch.  Time and workforce is as ever limited but we will do everything we can to include work of musicians involved with Traditional Music in East Anglia.

Musicians Profiles

The folk song collector and musician from Norwich, Joan Roe has been added to this section on the website as has the late Dave Cooper.  Neither of these profiles, nor indeed many of them that appear on the website can be added without the help and research and knowledge of other people and we are indebted for time taken by others to help preserve the memory of people who have contributed to the East Anglian Traditional Music scene.

We would like to try to include more influential and respected musicians from across the region so if anyone feels they might be interested in contributing to an article on this page, please do contact the Trust – info@eatmt.org.uk.

Archive Collections

Back in 2012, co founding director Katie Howson produced an article on the website about the Gray’s Tune Book from Bury St Edmunds.  From this old manuscript each tune was either copied or re written into a more “folk friendly” key and pictures uploaded onto the website.  These pictures are gradually being replaced with a free downloadable pdf and the aim is to also have a short soundfile of the tune so it caters for those who play by ear and for those who play with the ‘dots’. 

There is an explanation on the Old Collections page regarding limited length of sound files and a basic theory lesson so it is hopefully possible to make sense of all of the resources on offer. It’s a work in progress, but do have a look.

Added to the Archive Collections is an index of the Bolingbroke Collection, with the Goffe Collection and Watson Collection being worked on currently (which will be accessible in the Archive section).  All three have been researched into by Alan Helsdon with the help of a few friends over several years. These are Norfolk based old Tune Books. 

In an ideal world, old manuscripts from other areas of East Anglia would be good to add or mention. The Trust can facilitate this if any of you have done the work and have nowhere to show it. If work has been made available online already, then we will happily promote this and attach links to share the findings of such hard work.  Do get in touch!

Pat Pickles’ Jig Doll Archive

The indexing for this has now been completed whilst in Lockdown and once restrictions ease, digital copies will be made of the archives and gradually these will be uploaded onto the website.  

Book sales and Instrument Hire

Now is a great time to gem up on those tunes or read or both. Check out our online shop.  Or how about learning an instrument?  With access to the office, posting books is not an issue and neither is sorting out melodeon or concertina hire.  Now has never been a better time! 

2020-2021 Support Continues

We are delighted to have received funding once again from Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Council, who despite being aware that it will be unlikely we will be able to fulfil our planned events for this financial year, have promised their continued support. 

We are also delighted to have received one off funding from the Suffolk based Scarfe Charitable Trust.

Funding Hopes

We have very recently learned that the Trust has been unsuccessful in gaining any emergency funding from Arts Council England and CAF which we had applied for in order to put in place a stronger website database to support the substantial amount of archiving material we should be able to work on during these times.  The aim is to offer our supporters access to archives from the world of East Anglian traditional music and dance in some way if can’t offer it physically for the time being. But we also need to ensure it’s safe and secure.  We’ll keep persevering though! 

Please do get in touch if you would like to get involved.  We rely heavily on volunteers but more than that, we rely heavily on your knowledge based input.  We’d love to hear from you! 

Supporter thanks for 2020-21

The Scarfe Charitable Trust     

The Alfred Williams Charitable Trust

Friends and Supporters of EATMT Friends

As ever, we are extremely grateful to our supporters who have taken out a Friends’ membership with EATMT. This is an annual subscription of £15 and since its existence has been a vital part of our income. In addition, we are able to claim back Gift Aid through this scheme. Your support is invaluable and is very much appreciated.

If you’re not yet a Friend or if you are a lapsed Friend, please do consider joining/re joining. You will benefit from cheaper event tickets and early bird booking as well as knowing that your contribution to the Trust helps keep traditions alive. Find our Friends’ membership form here.

Please also be aware that if you are a Friend and pay by standing order, if you have been affected financially by the current circumstances, then you will need to contact your bank to cancel this if you feel this is necessary.  We hope it isn’t but sometimes, needs must. 

Other ways to help

EATMT is a member of Recycle4charity.  If you are working from home, you will likely be using up the ink in your home printers far quicker than normal.  These can be recycled. If you would like some envelopes for you to send your used inkjet cartridges away in order to raise extra funds for EATMT, please get in touch and we’ll send some in the post to you.  

As ever, the final words are of thanks to the volunteers who help keep the Trust and staff in buoyant mood. Not all are mentioned in this newsletter, but you know who you are! 

Stay Safe

From Alex Bartholomew,
Administrator and the Trustees

Traditional Music Day September  4th 2021

APOLOGIES – there seems to be a wrong link from the mailchimp newsletter to the Music Box Archive which is proving tricky to fix. It should be fairly logical in finding this new page manually – we’re sure you’ll think it is worth finding!

Planning for 2020 and beyond

December saw not only a recharge and break for us here in the office over the Christmas and New Year but also, due to the quieter time of the year, gave us the opportunity for the computers to take a break. Over three weeks, each hard drive was taken away, cleaned, cleared, updated and re booted.  All of the little annoying quirks were ironed out and they are now back up and running at full speed (and a bit more!)

January was, as ever, the month of deadlines – local authority funding applications, the annual return for the Charity Commission and the production of the Annual Report from the previous financial year.  In due course, those of you who are All Singing, All Dancing Friends will receive the Annual Summary for you to cast your eyes over. 

Gordon Ruddock Bursary 2020-21

The Ruddock Bursary Scheme for the coming financial year was launched at the end of January and is open for young people up to the age of 25 who are living or studying in East Anglia and are involved in the Traditional Folk Arts/Music – be it as musicians, dancers, singers or storytellers.  If you know anyone who might be suitable please spread the word. One bursary is to assist with the costs of a place on the Burwell Bash – a week long summer school run in Cambridgeshire (27-31st July). Booking for this opened in February and places are filling fast. We are delighted be able to work with the organisers of this successful event. For an update on the first year’s bursary recipients, please check out the Ruddock Bursary page on our website.

EATMT Events in 2020

Stepdancing at Strumpshaw Tree Fair – July 18th and 19th 2020

Plans are well underway with Stepdancing co-ordinator Fiona Davies for this weekend in Norfolk. There’s a spotlight on Norfolk Stepdancing with Norfolk’s Hushwing – featuring Dulcimer, Fiddle and Piano – as the resident band on Saturday 18th July. The Trust’s annual Stepdance day, sponsored by the Instep Research Team, takes place on Sunday 19th July in the afternoon starting with a Stepdance Workshop run by Lou Beal and followed by the Competitions. More details will be added over the Spring months on the events page and the Stepdancing page.

September Song Day -Saturday 19th September 2020

In between the winter month deadlines, we have secured our tutors for September Song day in Stowmarket on Saturday 19^th September 2020 which will be held in Stowmarket.  This will be a day of three one and a half hour workshops each with a different theme and tutors, a lunchtime singaround session and a tutor concert in the evening. Nick Hart, Stef Conner and Lynne and John Ward are the tutors with John Grey and Libby Byne Grey from Hertfordshire Folk Association running the lunchtime session. The evening concert will feature all tutors – Nick as a solo artist, Stef will be joined by her Timeline Choir and Lynne and John Ward will be joined by Les Woodley thus appearing as The John Ward Trio. Tickets go on sale in May. The Events page will be updated over the Spring as we release more information.

EATMT around East Anglia in 2020

EATMT will be having a stall at this Mardles run event on Saturday 25th April in Beccles. We’ll have our books and hire instruments with us – do come and say hello!

Once again, we’ll be in the Instrumental Area for this super weekend at Glemham Hall on August 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

Website News

The Music Box Archive

We are delighted to launch The Music Box Archive. Just before Christmas 2019, Suffolk musician Megan Wisdom approached EATMT regarding a field recording project of singers and songs sung in East Anglia. Megan started her recordings this month and will be starting with Suffolk. It is hoped that over time all East Anglian Counties will be added to this archive. For now, Megan will fit this project in around her time as a full time student on the Folk Degree course at Newcastle University. Her email linked to the Trust is musician@eatmt.org.uk and she will be accessing this as and when time permits but please feel free to make contact if you’re interested in getting involved – either as a singer or as a recorder for other counties within East Anglia.

Do take a look around the new pages on the website dedicated to the Music Box Archive. Megan’s first interviews are available online with Phil O’Dwyer and Roger Middleditch as her first interviewees. Megan has recorded an interview with singers as well as songs and added a photograph and short biography making it a very entertaining read and listen but it’s also an exciting bit of oral history making. We’re delighted with the look and sound of this and hope you are too!

Musicians Profiles

With thanks to Musician, Friend and Supporter Sue Carlton, George Craske and Frank Ward have been added to the Musician Profile pages on the website. There are also two sound clips of George playing recorded by Ann-Marie Hulme and Peter Clifton in 1977 which you might not have heard before.

We would like to try to include more influential and respected musicians from across the region so if anyone feels they might be interested in contributing to an article on this page, please do contact the Trust – info@eatmt.org.uk.

Vaughan Williams in the East

Musician, Friend and Supporter Alan Helsdon has conducted much research into Ralph Vaughan Williams’s collecting in Norfolk and Alan has kindly adapted a recent article written for the Journal of Norfolk Wherry Trust for the Trust’s website page RVW in the East. You can read his article here.

Pat Pickles’ Jig Doll Archive

The Trust homes much of Pat Pickles’ Jig Doll Archive a large amount of which was used for the publication “The Brightest of Entertainers”. This February, one of the Trust’s Friends has started the mammoth task of archiving, referencing, indexing and digitising Pat Pickles’ collection which she gave to the Trust several years ago. It is being digitised with a view to being accessible online via the Trust website once this first stage is completed.

Project work for 2020

Molly dance and archive project

Behind the scenes the Trust is working closely with Cambridgeshire folk educators Nicky Stockman and Gordon Philips on a project about Molly Dancing. We hope to have updates on this by late spring.

Stepdancing in Schools

We’re still looking to secure some funding over the spring to take Stepdancing into schools this summer. We hope to have some news in the coming months regarding this.

Jig Dolls in Stowmarket and beyond…

Thanks to Stowmarket Town Council, we have been awarded a pot of money from their Community Awards fund to add more Jig Dolls to the Trust’s collection which goes out and about across the region. We are also able to provide a training session for local volunteers to take these dolls into initially care homes within the town of Stowmarket but we’re hoping to extend this in other Community areas within the town such as Stowmarket Library.

We’re delighted to be teaming up with Stowupland High School who are keen to get involved – a test doll has been made already and, with a few tweaks, we hope to have several made by the DT department and pupils which can be used, not only in care homes, but also on one of the school’s Activity days in the summer term.

Jig Dolls in East Suffolk

Pictures from the Seagull Theatre and from the performance at Oulton Park Care Centre in Lowestoft and with a visiting group of school children from Woods Loke primary school.

Ancestors is a local project involving a collaboration with the Suffolk Record Office and Voice cLoud, the Trust’s jig dolls were used in care homes and at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft during January. Stephen Amer of Voice cLoud writes:

In early 2019, The Voice cLoud launched a Suffolk-wide project on behalf of Suffolk Archives which gave people the opportunity to use the resources and collections of Suffolk record offices – the three record offices based around Suffolk – to research their family and local history.

The group based in Lowestoft made discoveries about their relatives’ lives which led them to Lowestoft’s workhouse; the town’s long-lost Beach Village and, further afield, to Dunwich and even Canada!

The Voice cLoud took the findings and research of this group to create a unique piece of theatre which used professional actors to represent these real Lowestoft characters from the past century, paired with amateur musicians (including members of the research group) and embellished by singers from the Voice cLoud’s other community music projects.

The show, called ‘Ancestors’, brought to life the fascinating and tragic lives of the relatives and people the group found out about and incorporated traditional Suffolk folk music, songs written for the production, step dancing and even jig dolls which were loaned to the production by the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust.

The show was performed at a range of community venues in and around Lowestoft during January, including at The Seagull Theatre in Pakefield, two care homes, to school children and at a museum and a coffee shop.

For more information about the show, visit www.ancestors-show.co.uk

2021 Events

Workshops March 2021

In December, Trust administrator Alex and voluntary Event administrator Shirley Harry visited a potential new venue in Cambridgeshire for a day of workshops in the Spring of 2021. We are delighted to have Steve Dumpleton once again on board as voluntary Artistic Director for a day of workshops. We are hoping to provide workshops for melodeons, concertinas, piano accordions and a band workshop for multiple instruments. We are busy looking at the budgets for this but a provisional date of Saturday 27th March 2021 has been pencilled in our diaries and a suitable venue has “saved the date” for us too. Bear with us while we try and make this a firm fixture in the 2021 diary.

Traditional Music Day September 4th 2021

We are delighted to announce we have been successful in being awarded some funding from The Alfred Williams Charitable Trust. This local Charitable Trust supports local causes involved with heritage, music, education, community and social causes and so we’re honoured to have been allocated some money to help with the running of this event for next year.

Voluntary Artistic Co-ordinator Alan Bearman is busy planning EATMT’s 2021 Traditional Music Day which will take place around Stowmarket town centre on Saturday 4th September 2021. He’s keen to hear your views. We know it is a much missed event and people are keen to see it back on the timetable of Trust events. Here at the Trust, we are keen to be looking forward, so what developments would you like to see? For example, should it be more regionally inclusive? What additional things would you like to see? If you feel you have something constructive to add at this stage of the planning, then Alan would like to hear from you by email: abm.alan89@gmail.com.

Even though we are not able to use the same site as in previous years, we are able to keep the event running in Stowmarket – right in the heart of East Anglia – easily accessible by road, train or even air!

In other news…

Antiques Road Trip – Laxfield Royal Oak

Our second TV programme – this time covering Stepdancing – was aired on Tuesday 4^th February at 4.30pm on BBC1.  Here is the link to watch again if you missed it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000f1y2/antiques-road-trip-series-20-episode-22.    It featured Fiona Davies, Lennie Whiting, Stephen Matthews, David Mitchell, Lou Beal and James Abbott – plus the next generation of keen young dancers, Nuala and Bean.

Trip to EFDSS – Cecil Sharp House and the RVW Memorial Library

In early February, we were very grateful for the warm welcome and time given to us by acting Director of Library and Archives Malcolm Barr Hamilton for a meeting about collections and archiving.

Inventory and stocktaking

Yet another volunteer, Ian Trouse – sometimes Event photographer/film maker for the Trust and also MEAL Museum volunteer – has been busy devising an inventory system so we can start making a list of what exactly we have in the offices here at Trust HQ. Overseen by our Trusty Trustee Miriam Stead, this is a job not for the faint hearted! The aim is to digitise relevant items and add them to the website.

Book sales and Instrument Hire

Book sales have seen a surge since the beginning of the new year and we find ourselves popping to the Post Office on a weekly basis with new orders from new faces. This month some have been New Zealand and America bound. You can check out these products in our online shop.

The Maypole is reserved for a hire in May but Maypoles aren’t just for May so if you’re involved in a village fete or community summer event, do bear us in mind to add something “Traditional” to your event.

We have a good number of D/G melodeons out on hire plus one of the Dulcimers. We also have C row melodeons available as well as anglo concertinas. At £10 per month for rental, it’s a great way to have a go at something new without committing to purchasing an instrument. This week one D/G melodeon has been hired out to a very keen young gentleman, aged 9 who has been learning on a child’s melodeon under the watchful eye of the master Tony Hall. On Tony’s advice, his student has decided to get his fingers working on the real McCoy and grand dad Pete has treated him to several months worth of hire. A beautiful tune played by Tony at the Blaxhall Ship in 2016 recorded and uploaded by Gavin Atkin can be seen here. Thanks to Gavin and Tony for permission to use.

Friends

As ever, we are extremely grateful to our supporters who have taken out a Friends’ membership with EATMT. This is an annual subscription of £15 and since its existence has been a vital part of our income. In addition, we are able to claim back Gift Aid through this scheme. Your support is invaluable and is very much appreciated. If you’re not yet a Friend or if you are a lapsed Friend, please do consider joining. You will benefit from cheaper event tickets and early bird booking as well as knowing that your contribution to the Trust helps keep traditions alive. Find our Friends membership form here.

We have recently signed up for Recycle4charity.  If you would like some envelopes for you to send your used inkjet cartridges away in order to raise extra funds for EATMT, please get in touch and we’ll send some in the post to you.  We can take your laser cartridges too – if you’re interested, do get in touch.

As ever, the final words are of thanks to the Friends, supporters, volunteers who help keep the Trust and staff in buoyant mood.
Not all mentioned in this newsletter, but you know who you are!

Welcome to our Autumn 2019 Newsletter – A time to look over the past year and look forward to 2020. 

Here at Trust HQ, the last of the event boxes have just been emptied and stored away and the backlog of administrative tasks are slowly being attended to.

The website is being updated with reports, photographs and video links of the events we’ve been involved with during 2019. Over the autumn and winter months, with thanks to offers of help, we’ll slowly be looking through the archives on the computers and uploading more material and archives onto the website from days gone by.

If you find incorrectly attributed photographs or incorrect information as you look at the website, please do get in touch.  We are aware of some already and are working to right this.

The popular “Musicians Profile” page on the website is currently being worked on and with help from a keen volunteer, hope to get another musician added in the coming weeks.  If you’d like to research into a local musician that you feel should be recognised on our website please do get in touch. 

EVENTS 2019

Photos courtesy of C Gill, G Wade, EATMT

Stepdance Day

Stepdance Day stepped into Norfolk for the first time in July and found a very warm welcome from the organisers of Strumpshaw Tree Festival.  Under the direction of Fiona Davies and with thanks to the support of the Instep Research Team, we were delighted to see so many familiar faces and we welcomed new faces and feet to the boards.  We were proud to be able to showcase dancers from across all areas of East Anglia.  You can read the report and see the photos of the day here.  We’ll be joining this lovely festival again in 2020 which runs 18 and 19th July.  

Music at the Mo in Sheringham

Summer in Sheringham
We were excited to be involved in two events with the Sheringham Museum over the summer as part of their FolkArt exhibition “Time on their Hands”.  The first event, a lunchtime talk, was led by Richard Blake who talked about Dulcimers.  One of our Friends and volunteers, Chris Gill, recorded the talk. The link is being worked on and you’ll be able to find it on the event page very soon!  The video was requested by the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club who are keen to write an article on the East Anglian Dulcimer.  We’ll put up the link to this when it has been published.  

Left to right: SqueezEast Concertinas; Student Jackie with Richard Blake; Lunchtime session; Sheringham Museum entrance; Student Patrick with Vintage Squeezer Peter. Photos EATMT.

The second event for the museum took place in the form of a day of Traditional Music at the end of August.  We were delighted to be joined with self help melodeon group Vintage Squeeze, SqueezEast Concertinas and Richard Blake who offered a morning of “have a go” melodeons, concertinas and dulcimers.  Hushwing performed to a large gathering in the afternoon in what was a thought provoking programme of music. There’s a write up of both events plus photographs here and video links from local film maker Jeff Link of Norfolk Nuggets click here.
 

FolkEast

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at FolkEast.  Situated in the Instrumental Area, we were made to feel so very welcomed.  Trustees, Bursary recipients, Friends, volunteers and musicians joined us over the weekend. We sold a good lot of Tunebooks and Jig Doll Books and it triggered a flurry of instrumental hirers.  Our pitch has been reserved for 2020 – 21st, 22nd, 23rd August.  See the report and photographs here.

photos EATMT

Cider & Song

The final events of 2019 that we were involved with this year were based at the Museum of East Anglian Life.  Invited to programme the museum’s 2nd Cider and Song event, EATMT produced over 14 hours of music, involving over 40 musicians and over 20 volunteers.  You can see the Trust’s photographs and report of the weekend here.

Pressing the Buttons

EATMT took the opportunity to trial a new set of workshops called Pressing the Buttons alongside Cider and Song on the Saturday.  Under the direction of Steve Dumpleton and with support of Friend and volunteer Shirley Harry, the Trust ran 4 workshops with Concertina tutors Sally Barrett and Alan Day and Melodeon tutors Steve Dumpleton and Otis Luxton.  You can read about the day here.  Feedback from the event has been immensely encouraging from tutors and participants and so we are pulling together suggestions and ideas with the view to setting up a bigger choice of workshops including more instruments and creating a specifically designed workshop event to take place in the Spring of 2021.  

NEWS

TV Filming – Antiques Road Trip

The Celebrity Antiques Road Trip filming which took place in early July with John Cooper Clarke and highlighted dulcimers and jig dolls filmed in the Suffolk village of Bedfield at the Crown as featured in our Summer newsletter earlier this year is being aired on Tuesday 19th November at 7pm on BBC 2. 

EATMT was contacted in August for the second time this year by the television company STV which produces Celebrity Antiques Road Trip and Antiques Road Trip.  This time, for Antiques Road Trip with a spotlight on Stepdancing. See here for a report on this afternoon of dancing in Laxfield, Suffolk. 

Jig Dolls

The Jig Dolls have had a busy summer – there was huge interest with them at FolkEast and they were in much demand in September.  Val Leggett, Friend, volunteer and member of Vintage Squeeze took a few jig dolls to Norwich fora heritage event in Waterloo Park. Fellow friend and melodeon player Linda Watterson made a film of their outing which Linda has kindly given permission for the Trust to use. Val also features on the short film made at Sheringham Museum for the Traditional Music event at the end of August.

Along with a number of C row melodeons and a dulcimer, the rest of the jig dolls spent several weeks out and about with folk musician and freelance community music practitioner Tessa Wingate who is working in Norfolk with dementia sufferers and has used the instruments and jig dolls for her weekly sessions.  Tessa writes  For the past two months, I’ve been working with Creative Arts East facilitating folk music programming for six of their eight “Our Day Out” groups in Norfolk.  “Our Day Out” are inclusive, dementia friendly, groups for older people, that aim to engage participants in a programme of fun and stimulating music and dance activities delivered by professional arts practitioners. 
 
 For this current series of sessions I wanted to hone the experience for the participants and focus on folk music.  As two of the groups are quite large, I’ve been co-facilitating them with two outstanding musicians – Rosie Toll with the Thetford group and Chris Ellis with the North Walsham group.
 
We have been exploring different instruments, including bodhrans, hammered dulcimers, melodeons and jig dolls (the latter three all kindly loaned from The East Anglian Traditional Music Trust). In addition to this each group has a composed and recorded a folk song about a local myth, legend or tradition. All the songs will be compiled onto a CD album for the participants to have as a memento of the experience. Song topics include: Boudicca, Babes In The Woods, Saint Withburgh, The Sheringham Mermaid, The Green Children of Woolpit, and a sea shanty about fishing from Wells Harbour.
 
There have been some wonderful moments so far. I love seeing the joy on people’s faces when they realise that they are making music and it sounds amazing. Some of the best moments have been with the jig dolls, they seem to bring out a playful side to everyone. One eighty-something year old participant shared that when she was a child living in Lincolnshire her father made jig dolls for various people in their community.
 
Creative Arts East recently secured extended funding from Spirit of 2012 to continue the programme for another three years. Sessions are free to attend and take place in: Dereham, Attleborough, Thetford, Watton, North Walsham, Wells-Next-The-Sea, Hunstanton and Downham Market. If you or someone you know is interested in joining one of the groups either as a participant or volunteer, please contact Sydney Burges on 01953 713395 or sydney@creativeartseast.co.uk .
 
It’s a real privilege to facilitate “Our Day Out” sessions.  I am so grateful for The East Anglian Traditional Music Trust’s enthusiastic support; the addition of their instruments and especially the loan of their jig dolls has been an invaluable addition to the groups.

At Stowupland Secondary School near Stowmarket, Jig Dolls are being made in readiness for a summer project day based around the Gun cotton explosion in 1871. The school is also keen to be involved in some of the school visits that we are planning in 2020 promoting Stepdancing and East Anglian Traditional Music. 

The Brightest of Entertainers
The edited and updated book on Jig Dolls which the Trust published last August and was written by Pat Pickles and Katie Howson was shortlisted in September for the Katharine Briggs Book Award.  Run by the Folklore Society, Katie Howson along with Trustee Eammon Andrews headed to the Warburg Institute in London at the end of October for the awards ceremony.  Just a few days before the ceremony, we learned of the sad news that Pat has passed away.  For more information, please read here. 

Dulcimer Find!

Following communication with the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club regarding Richard Blake’s talk at Sheringham Museum in July, we  inadvertently found an old East Anglian Dulcimer for sale.    After making contact with the owner, we picked it up en route from our second event in Sheringham at the end of August.  It has a fantastic story behind it and you can read its previous owner’s story here where you will also find an exclusive recording of Billy Bennington playing it before handing it over to Wendy when she was a young music student.  Local dulcimer player, George Monger has cast his eye over it, given it a good play and it made its first Trust appearance in the Dining Room at Cider and Song.  We are so grateful to Wendy for giving us so detailed a history and for giving us a copy of her recording of Billy Bennington’s playing and we’re delighted to be able to share this piece of wonderful history.

English Folk Expo

English Folk Expo weekend in Manchester This event clashed with Cider and Song but we were pleased to have stepdancer Fiona Davies attend this weekend event on our behalf. Fiona spent the whole weekend working hard to promote the Trust and over the coming months we hope to be able to make contact with the numerous people keen to work with us in the future.

Stepdancing developments In November, the Trust will be attending the Stepping On Conference at Cecil Sharp House run by EFDSS and in partnership with the Instep Research Team.  Trustee Lindsay Want and dancers Fiona Davies and Lou Beal will all be attending on behalf of EATMT. Fresh ideas from this conference will help to build towards school and community project work that we are working on for 2020 and beyond.  Young bursary stepdancer Lou will be writing a report of their trip which you’ll see added to the website in the winter months and in the next newsletter.

Bursary musicians

We are in the process of updating news from our busy bursary musicians over the quieter months so do drop by and see how work on the website on this page and others progresses.

EVENTS 2020

We launch the second year of the Ruddock Bursary scheme in the early spring of 2020.  Once again, one of these Bursaries will be offered as part payment towards a place on Cambridgeshire’s Summer School Burwell Bash.  We are in the process of fixing a date in March for a celebratory concert featuring our young 2019 musicians.  As soon as we secure a date, we will update you.

Stepdance Day will take place at Strumpshaw Tree Fair on Sunday 19th July.  For the second year this event is being funded with thanks to the Instep Research Team.  We will be looking to move it to another county in 2021 but if you missed it last year, the Tree Fair is well worth a visit and entrance fees are extremely reasonable.  

We have booked our pitch for FolkEast 202021/22/23 August and hope to get more involved over the weekend.  Watch this space over the next year for more updates.

New Event – September Song

September Song in Stowmarket – 19th September 2020  We are delighted to announce a day of Song – with daytime workshops, a singaround lunchtime session and an evening concert which will take part in the centre of the town’s old Corn Hall – what is now the John Peel Centre for Arts. Details to follow in the New Year.

Requests for a Maintenance Day on melodeons and concertinas have proved popular.  Martyn White and Mike Acott are keen to join forces with EATMT, so if this is something you are looking for, please register your interest with us (info@eatmt.org.uk).

Our Monthly daytime classes with Mel Biggs in Newmarket had to be stopped after the first three classes due to low uptake but it did attract people from across East Anglia.  Those that got involved with the classes enthused about the learning process that Mel took them through and they are keen for us to re work the model for 2020 so that it attracts more people.  Feedback as ever, provided it’s polite, is welcome!  

We are also in the process of writing proposals for Stepdance workshops across East Anglia for Schools’ work and we are also working on a Molly Dancing project which we hope to bring you more information on in the early spring of 2020. 

Events 2021

Plans are already developing for the return of two popular events in 2021 – the year we celebrate our 21st anniversary.

East Anglian Traditional Music Trust’s Traditional Music Day 2021

“We want to see Traditional Music Day back” is a regular cry from our Friends and followers.  We’ve spent the summer months looking at suitable venues and we are delighted to announce plans to reintroduce this in 2021 – Saturday 4th September 2021 – in Stowmarket. 

It seems a long way off, but with an enforced venue change, it needs delicate planning and working with our local friends and organisations.  We are delighted to announce that Alan Bearman has agreed to artistically co-ordinate this event which will see a return of this annual event in the year the Trust turns 21.

Pressing the Buttons – Workshops for 2021

Following the success of the four Pressing the Buttons workshops as mentioned above, we will also be working towards running workshops in March 2021 and we’re delighted to have Steve Dumpleton on board as artistic co ordinator for this event. We’ve had some excellent feedback from participants and tutors of the recent workshops. If you have any specific ideas you’d like us to think about, then please do let us know.  We promise to read every comment (though can’t guarantee to take every suggestion into account but we’d still like to hear your views over the coming months).  A Come Join the Band workshop (on any instrument) is being investigated for the many of you who have requested us to look into this.  

Friends membership

Your support now more than ever is much valued.  Please consider signing up as a Friend (£15 per year).  Over the quieter months, we will be chasing lapsed members in the hope that you like the direction the Trust has been moving in over the last year and will consider re joining.  If you are a tax payer, the Gift Aid we are able to claim back is an additional boost to the Trust’s income.

Other ways to help

We have recently signed up for Recycle4charity.  If you would like some envelopes for you to send your used inkjet cartridges away in order to raise extra funds for EATMT, please get in touch and we’ll send some in the post to you.  We can take your laser cartridges too – if you’re interested, do get in touch.

A final note must be included regarding the numerous amount of volunteers, musicians and organisations who have supported the Trust over this summer – at events in the spotlight and in the office behind the scenes.  It has proved invaluable and without that support, EATMT would not be in such a strong position to move forwards.  You all know who you are – THANK YOU!