brailsford at last

A house move has come between me and the blog - so rather late with this post.

But I had a good, if short, session in the church with the choir in which we wrote a first verse and a chorus and gathered lots of other material for a new song. Aren't village churches just so interesting - all unique and all with lots of stories to tell. I finished it off at home and next time we all met was to join with the infants at the school to share our songs - and a very good sing was had by all!

Brailsford All Saints Song
Embedded in trees the church stands proud,
The bells at 8.30 ring out on the wind,
Jackdaws aloft are flapping and squawking
Inviting the people to come in and sing

Refrain:
Let’s sing to our church, to God in our church,
Oh come to our church, come join us to sing!

Along past the yew tree, the old Saxon cross,
The tombs of the Yateses, the song of the thrush,
You’ll open the door to peace and to welcome
And the deep tenor bell will hurry you in.

The sun through the glass colours surplice and skin,
Terracotta and sand of the tiled chancel floor,
Scallop on capital, carving in wood,
Mark of the masons on local grey stone.

Stitched cushion and cassock, an ancient oak chest,
Stern ten commandments and pink marble tomb,
But a warming fresh coffee, a place for the kids
A kitchen, a welcome, a port in a storm.

We’ll sing you an anthem, we’ll sing you a hymn,
“The Lord Bless and Keep You”, our voices will rise,
Tomorrow finds silence in wood and in stone,
But today bring your voices and let the space ring.

Looking forward to Brailsford...

Set off to Brailsford to work with the church choir a week last Monday but had to turn back due to the floods. Now re-arranged to meet Mahala and her merry band next Monday. Then to join with the school onthe following Monday. Have a very good feeling about this one...

Back to Sudbury

Back to Sudbury on Tuesday to record songs with the school in the morning and with the Senior Citizens in the afternoon. The most heartening thing was that I found that the bringing together of the two groups has had a really positive effect in this small community. The school is now seen as more welcoming and a good place for learning. The older people seem very open about future involvements and the feeling with both groups was warm and enthusiastic. I discussed supporting the community in some way to secure greater control over their use and improvement of their Parish Room or other community facility - contacting the Parish Council to talk about the work and emphasise the need for good community facilities for such projects. Everyone seemed very pleased with their recordings despite it only being onto minidisc and done with the minimum of rehearsal. I was given this press cutting, some photos and a lettuce!

I told the children about my idea of writing a love song to the John Deere tractor and one girl siad she could deliver it as she lived next door. Now there's a thought....

vegetables and accordions

Tuesday was just lovely - a special time with the infants at Brailsford Primary School to finish off their vegetable garden song. We cut up all our words and rearranged them to give us some ideas for the lines. Everyone mucked in - working really well in pairs, then as a group and then we made a tune. Then we sang it to the Year 1's and the reception children who clapped very very loudly. Quite right too - here it is:

Our vegetable garden

In our vegetable garden

blackbirds are twittering,

scrabbly beans are curling round,

big fat worms lick our feet,

onion leaves like spiky hair.

In our vegetable garden

heart shaped potatoes,

flowers like the gazing sun,

peoples' breath sounds like the wind,

strong radishes are fat long eggs.

They also enjoyed exploring the wonders of the accordion - the bellows, the buttons, the keys, the different sounds.

I hope to be meeting them again when we get them together with Mahala and the ladies and gents of the Church Choir who will also be making their own new song. Mahala thinks they should write about the leeks in the church roof and the way some people sit like cabbages in the pews...

Scribblers in Doveridge

The Doveridge poets are still sending me stuff. Here's one from Audrey of the Senior Citizens Group:

Our village is so beautiful,
It overlooks the River Dove
With St Cuthbert's Church
On the ridge above.

The village well is kept neat and spry
By the good ladies of our WI.
At the other endof the village is Chapel Green
Where the old chapel and the new school can be seen.

And if you're of the sporting kind
There's a playing field with you in mind
We have a post office and a couple of shops
Where you can buy groceries or lolly pops

When you're feeling depressed and sad,
Take a walk round the village and you'll be glad,
You're sure to meet someone along the way
Who will stop and pass the time of day.

There's so much to do, so much to see
There's no place I'd rather be
Than Doveridge.

Thanks Audrey - it's certainly true it is a beautiful place. And I can testify myself that people have always said hello as I've been walking round.

Gardening at Brailsford

Today I joined the Year 2 children at Brailsford School and they introduced me to their productive vegetable garden - peas, beans, potatoes, radishes, onions and strawberries - set off nicely by a backdrop of big yellow smiling pansies. After we'd had a look, a feel, a smell, a listen and even a taste (of hawthorn leaves which used to be known by country children as "bread and cheese") we talked and wrote down all our experiences on some leaf shaped paper, all ready to write our vegetable garden song next week. I can't wait - yum yum!

Love in Doveridge

Doveridge Manor House

Back to Doveridge Senior citizens who I last saw at the beginning of February! But we soon got going again. Knowing I had only about 45 minutes of practical time with them I had taken the start of a song based on the ideas collected last time. In no time we had written two more verses. There seemed to be quite a buzz in the room and enjoymment in singing the result. Here it is:

Chorus:
We love to live in Doveridge,
Nestling here upon the edge
Of Derbyshire and Staffordshire,
We love to live in Doveridge.

1. When we were young
We’d bill and we’d coo,
Down Pickley’s Lane
We’d walk and we’d woo,
As under our yew tree
Came Robin Hood
To meet with his Marion
And ask if she would (Chorus)

2. Hopscotch on the pavement,
Whip and top as well,
Skipping in the playground,
Sledging down Red Hill,
Conkers from the Manor House,
Football on the field,
Carolling at Christmas time,
Chestnuts to be peeled .(Chorus)

3. Now post office on the High Street,
Sells all the goods we need,
Take your dog along the footpaths,
But don't forget the lead!
Playschool at the village hall,
Dancing Friday nights,
And Doveridge Parish Council
Fighting for our rights! (Chorus)

A rousing ending indeed! I also shared the songs from Sudbury and Hulland Ward senior residents and everyone joined in.

Severla members promised me some poems about Doveridge and John Taylor had written a special one since my last visit:

The Ridge Above the Dove
O Doveridge, O Doveridge,
When I've been far away
I've always had you in my mind
And thought of you each day.
I've thought about the village hall
When many miles away
Where I was once vice-chairman
But no vice came my way.

As always in that edifice
We've many rare events
Including every other week
The Senior residents.
Well at our meetinghere today
A speaker name of Sally
From East side of the Pennines
So she's not from our alley.

We spoke of many village things
Post Office, village shops,
Of hopscotch, skipping and the rest
And local dance hall hops,
Of skating on the Parklands Lake,
Toboggans on Bond's Croft,
But most important thing of all,
The snogging, loved and lost.

On Pickley's Lane and round the well
When darkness failed the spies
But when we got the bright street lights
Well there before your eyes
All was revealed for folks to see
And so it spoiled their game
For making love in floods of light
Well, isn't quite the same.

So nowadays, no rendezvous
They've new techniques instead,
They simply say "Ey up my duck"
and hop it into bed.
Now turning to the River Dove,
Descending from the Peaks
That marks the line with Staffordshire
Where I've not been for weeks.

There in churchyard, a yew tree grows
Beneath which were betrothed
Robin and Maid Marion
But this has not been proved
For there are many other trees
That claim this right to fame
So take it with a pinch of salt
A pity and a shame.

But quite the star attraction
Must be the sewage farm
Where you can stand and sniff all day
And keep your nostrils warm.

Well, that's my tale of Doveridge,
There's much more you may bet,
I only came in '61
But I'm not finished yet!

Thankyou John, you brightened up a wet Thursday! Come on you poets - lets have more! You can post them direct to this blog if you like by clicking on comments.

laughing in Longford

Second and last visit to the Youth Club in Longford. Last time, a group of girls got very excited remembering all the games they'd played at the primary school where we were meeting, although they are now at secondary school. Just proves that memories can be stimulating whatever your age.

This week we had only about an hour to get something recorded straight onto computer. Some of the girls who contributed last time weren't there but a pair of keen girls got going. Even if it is only a laptop, a mic, some speakers and a little box it is amazing how nerve wracking it is - realising you are committing yourself permanently to sound. So they got the giggles - and giggled, and giggled, and giggled - and I giggled, but eventually we got something just mucking around with layering old clapping games - "Milkman, milkman, do your duty, here comes Mrs American Beauty..... " and "I went to the Chinese restaurant..... " (I love the way these rhymes get passed on down the ages - a wierd amalgum of tradition, contemporary references, and rudeness). And of course we kept some giggling in there - because the sound of giggling is just lovely....

Lunching, munching and singing in Hulland

Two visits to Hulland - last week to finish off composition of the songs at the Primary School and the Lunch Club; this week to share lunch together at the Village Hall as well as the new songs.

Creative ideas all round - the children had far more ideas than they could finally use. Especially ineresting - as usual - was the way in which children respond to their play environment in the school grounds and how this made its way into the song. The ash tree in the grounds was particularly talked about by all the children - as a meeting place, a place for games. Dorothy at the lunch club proved particularly creative with words and music but everyone contributed to a lovely lyrical piece with a lilting 6/8 tune.

The lunch time sharing this week was a great success - children interspersed themselves between the older people and tucked in. As at Sudbury, despite nervousness, they soon discovered shared relations, connections, interests.

The songs:

Round Here by Hulland Age Concern Lunch Club

Chorus:
Biggin by Hulland and Millington Green,
Turnditch and Clifton and Brailsford we’ve been,
Carsington Water, a walk down Dog Lane,
Taking our time, don’t get caught in the rain

1. The smell of the bluebells in our Biggin Wood,
We’d all like to pick them if only we could.
Sloe gin in the winter or sweet cowslip wine,
Let’s all get together and have a good time.

2. Boats on the water and shops to go round
Canada geese and ducks on the ground
Sheep in the fields as the lambs skip and play,
Owls in the evening, asleep in the day.

3. The rainbow in April upon Alport Heights
The gorse on The Mountain, the change in the light,
Walking the hills makes us feel free,
And brings out the artist in you and in me.

and

Hulland School Rules! by Hulland Primary School

Chorus:
Hulland School rules
Cos it’s really cool,
We ain’t no fools
Cos this school rules!


1. Meet my friends at quarter to nine
Rush to class, hope I'm on time
Get my book out from my tray
Ready for another fun filled day

2. It’s 12 o clock hip hip hooray
Lots of grassy space to play
Catch the blossom when it falls like snow
Run to the ash tree, go, go, go!

3. Afternoon its time for art
One, two three, let’s make a start,
Then bye bye school and hello Mum
Call at the sweet shop, yum yum yum!

sharing songs in Sudbury

Last Thursday, a welcome return to Sudbury Primary School who hosted a lovely afternoon for elders from the Senior Citizens Club to share each group's songs as well as tea and biscuits. A particular highlight was the extra verse added to the Senior Citizens' Song by Rose who wanted the song brought bang up to date - and quite right too:

Traditional we may be with fete and church bell,
But now we have car parks, electronic gates as well,
Use mobiles, computers and buy on E-bay,
That's Sudbury, our village, alive still today!

After tea, the children showed the older people around the school, including another look at the crinkle-crankle wall now immortalised in song (and yes, this is the proper name for it - not just a poetic invention). Many had memories of their own schooldays there - particularly the mischieveous ones (thanks Fred!) The Ashbourne Gazette came and took a photo of me with 4 pupils - old and new. The oldest had started school there 84 years ago.....

Hooraying at Hulland

On Tuesday I spent my first day in Hulland Ward - with a group of pupils from the Primary School in the morning and with older people at the luncheon club in the afternoon.

The morning was very productive - and we are on our way to a song celebrating the special places in the school. It already has words and melody for a tune and one verse written - and lots of ideas.

A short session with some lovely ladies at the Lunch club at the Village Hall before they got to grips with some sewing and rag rugging. We have a chorus already - made up of the names of local villages they all hail from. I think they surprised themselves and we laughed a lot.

recording at marston

Recording in Marston a week ago. It was a long and sometimes difficult slog but we did it and our Marston song, after editing and producing will be put onto CD. Everyone stuck with it well - it is hard to realise how much focus recording and multitracking takes. Not to mention self discipline so that coughs, rustles and crisp eating don't creep in! Well done Marston!

Here's the song:

Madness in Marston
My neighbours chickens escaping from the garden
Friesan Holsteins go beserk like the youth club
Mr Sweeney mows his lawn at midnight
My dad on his bike wobbles home from the pub
The flower power car drives off to Longford
The ghost in the boiler at the Primary School.

Spoken:
1. Wacky car, wacky car, boxing day race
2. Paint post office bright pink with green spots

Postscript 18th May: now worked on, added drum and bass and about to be sent off to the participants!

longford foray

First session in Longford with the Youth Club which is held at the Primary School. It is run by Ginty Leedham who has devoted herself to providing a place for young people to meet and be active for many a year. The young people found themselves exploring memories of their time at the school and the specialness of the playground - the site of many a game including playing at weddings! We had a short session as a great quiz had been prepared by two of the lads. We only have one more session so next time we will have to do some very instant songmaking straight onto computer software. I really enjoyed my time there - everyone was very welcoming.

relaxing in doveridge and a song for sudbury

Yesterday, the last session with the men at Derby Road in Doveridge. We held it in a lovely little wooden garden building and kept things fairly quiet today. We set up a little improvisation session involving chime bars in a pentatonic scale, some hanging chimes and an auto harp. One man really took to the auto harp and was playing it like a pro by the end of the session. Another man is a whizz at conducting us all. This has the making of a lovely relaxation piece. The home is keen to do more.


The afternoon was my second session with the Senior Citizens Club in Sudbury. Today was their AGM so we had a short session but a productive one. I'd started them off with a chorus and a tune, 2 verses with no tune yet and more verses to write. The group liked the chorus, made some adjustments and made up a new verse and more music.

We discussed meeting up with the children from the school to swap our songs. Then time for tea and biscuits. Had a lovely chat with Rose from the WI who was concerned we weren't just nostalgic and wanted very much to celebrate the village as it is now. So we will! She gave me more ideas. Pat was keen to have a go at adding other verses. I am sending them the music and words so far and Peter will perhaps add his keyboard.

Talked with Fred about future contacts with the school - his family have been here for many hundreds of years and I know the children would love him.

Here is their song so far, involving the correct local pronunciation of Dove to rhyme with rove:

Chorus:
Sudbury, Sudbury down by the Dove,
A ribbon of houses, a quiet winding road.
Wherever we've wandered, wherever we've roved,
It's peace back in Sudbury down by the Dove.

1. Us in our cottages, Lord Vernon his Hall,
Red brick, tall chimneys and green painted doors.
For hundreds of years we lived side by side,
Safe now from traffic, our village, our pride.

2. Bill Reed with his pony and float have passed by,
Bread bought from Bakewells, and pigs in their sty,
Love on the hay cart, a kiss by Bog's Hole,
Cows drank in the river where we took our stroll.

3. Now there's young Ratcliffe and his muck for the field
Making more grass for a much better yield,
Still Sudbury cricketers in whites on the Green
And National Trust visitors a sight to be seen!

easter excitement

Back to Marston Montgomery last Thursday and Friday.

Thursday evening and the second session with the Youth Club. Due to the new light evenings everyone wanted a roust-about outside first so we had quite a short session before a very messy game involving eggs! My group of six did some good work on the rhythm for the song. It's going to be really hard to record it next session due to the shortage of time and noise seeping through from next door. I think I may have to record some samples and put something together outside the session. We'll see.

Ellie from the club also made a lovely poem about her home village of Rocester after I encouraged her to cut up and collage her ideas:

Non Stop Rocester
Creaking hills,
blossoming trees,
honking flowers,
humming bees,
bouncing grass,
rolling lake,
stupid squirrels,
all awake.

In my room,
off time clock,
next door's dog
will never stop.

Laughing goose,
cackling sheep,
greasy children
all asleep.

Friday morning saw the last session with the lovely under 5's group. Preparations were in full swing for an Easter egg hunt so we did a slightly longer music session first and recorded our new song. Everyone still loves The Jungle Samba and today those puppets really danced! I got stuck into the playdough. And get well soon Dawn!

Friday afternoon off to Doveridge for the second session with the men at Derby Road residential home. Bit of an all over the place session today but we all have our off days! Everyone was a bit too wound up I think and the music was a bit too exciting. Will try something much calmer next time. Staff all very supportive and I love it here.

playing about

Back to Marston Montgomery last Friday. Here's the village well - a great little stage for one little diva member of the Under 5's group who likes to perform here singing "TwinkleTwinkle Little Star." We made sure we worked it into the new song written by the mums and minders and then tried it out with the children at the end of their play session. It worked really well and was full of quack quacks, splish sploshes, and zoom zooms - all connnected with Marston and the surrounding area - anywhere little children like to go. Then off to Doveridge to work with 4 men with learning disabilities who live on Derby Road.....

Great fun in the afternoon - and just as wonderfully playful. After learning each other's names in song and rhyming them, we wrote a song celebrating their home , the things they like to do and where they like to go - including the friendly Vernon Arms pub at Sudbury for a pint or a coke. Other staff gathered at the door and were drawn in. Everybody was surprised at how the men stuck with it for over an hour and were enthusiastic and engaged. Can't wait to go back...

cows, tractors, ducks and a church

All roads led to Marston Montgomery last week - and the start of working with groups there. On Thursday evening I worked in the village hall kitchen with members of the Youth Club. Like most youth clubs it was pretty anarchic and, as I expected, only a handful of young people had the staying power to stick with it. But what a great lot this handful were! I am learning that the John Deere tractor is a big part of life round here (kids at Sudbury also talked about it) and I'm sure it deserves a love song ("Oh John deere...."). Anyway, this lot talked a lot about cows, sheep and muck... We started a song dwelling on the madder and even fantasy elements of living in Marston stimulated by the observation that the Friesans go a bit mad in the Spring and were compared to the more unruly elements at the Youth Club!
We are meeting again next week, so watch this space.....

After a night at a B and B to save the long drive home to Sheffield, I spent the next morning at the village hall again - this time with mums and children from Marston Under 5's group. I busied myself chatting to mums about the area and where their children enjoy to go as the starting point for a little action song which will be a sort of "Babies Guide". Here is one of the children looking for ducks in a neighbour's garden after the session - I am sure we can work them in! At the end of their morning, I led a short music and song session.

After lunch in the pub, off to Doveridge to work with adults with learning disabilities at a residential home there. Unfortunately, they were unexpectedly short staffed that day - a real difficulty for many homes when illness strikes and I could see that my presence wasn't going to help matters. So we agreed to meet the following week and added in another week before Easter. Really looking forward to it even though I know I won't have much time to get the measure of the residents.

With some time now unexpectedly on my hands, I decided to have a look at Norbury church. Cllr Carol Valentine - another church architecture buff - and I had talked about churches as potential performance venues and I had heard that Norbury had a particularly fine church. I wasn't disappointed. The windows and glass and consequently the light in the chancel are breathtaking and more than a bit spooky. And look at these wonderful lords and ladies on the tombs. Don't they deserve a song? George Eliot's father sang in the choir here. I tried out the accoustics by singing, rather self conciously, and hoped no-one was listening to this mad woman.

young and old in sudbury

Yesterday the children at Sudbury School
and I finished our crinkle crankle wall song and were invited by local historian Audrey to meet her in her garden the other side of the wall. There were lots of questions about old Sudbury and Audrey's own childhood there. She was the daughter of the gardener to Lord Vernon at Sudbury Hall and also went to Sudbury School. Then we sang her our new song in the garden:

Chorus:
Crinkle crankle
crankle crinkle
crinkle crankle wall
curly wurly, snaky, wavy
standing up so tall.

1. Bricks are prickly, rough and crumbly
taking in the sun,
chipped and bumpy, old and lumpy,
Can be as hot as a hot cross bun

2. Blackbirds tweeting, whistling, fluttering
in the trees up high.
feet in the stalks are crickling, crackling,
crow and buzzard fly in the sky.

Later I went to Audrey's house and spent a good hour and a half poring over the books of photos, memorabilia and writing she has put together about the village, the Hall, the Vernons and her life. Her house is one of the estate cottages in the main street and is very eccentric in that her cellar goes under someone elses, the attic comes across from yet someone else's and altogether is a right hotch potch structurally - but beautiful, homely and very ancient. I loved it. We had a rare old time and she will be a great resource, together with her may contacts with other older villagers and her outstanding historical knowlege and archiving skills for the future of work here. She loved meeting the children - and they her.

crinkle crankling in sudbury, smoked salmon and pop in longford

The first chance I have to post this since a long day in Sudbury on Tuesday.

There are no other primary schools who can boast a crinkle crankle wall wall. The children in Sudbury
thought it was unsung and we spent a good morning visiting the wall - investigating it with all our senses and by the end had written a chorus for a new song. Watch this space!

The afternoon was very pleasantly spent with a group of older adults at the Parish rooms gathering material and memories for a song about Sudbury. I learned that the River Dove is pronounced to rhyme with stove - not love, that Uttoxeter is pronounced Utcheter and that Fred, the ex postman was the boy for a bit of hanky panky on the haycart. And that he can claim that his family has lived in the village for 500 years - longer than the famous Vernons of Sudbury Hall. I also met the marvellous Audrey there - local historian, fount of all knowledge - and who has the other side of the crinkle crankle wall (the really curvy side) in her garden. It's a secret, but she has invited me and the kids from the school to visit her there on Monday. Perhaps we'll sing to her.

Evening and off to local councillor Carol Valentine's house in Longford again.She had arranged for me to meet her together with county councillor Andrew Lewer and Longford based Ashbourne Festival volunteer Cordelia Wesby. All were very pleased that we were working in this rather forgotten part of Derbyshire. Andrew told me all about the Shrovetide football in Ashbourne and I got home and looked it up in Commonground's marvellous book England in Particular. I love these extraordinary, ancient things and traditions you find in the midst of so called ordinary people and places. We all promised to keep in touch and they were keen to be involved in the project in the long term, should we get further funding. The smoked salmon was ace. Who says there are no perks to this job?

Later evening - off to meet Ginty Leedham and the Youth Club she has been running for 17 years now in Longford. The youth clubs down this neck of the woods are all run by volunteers. A group of girls were particularly interested, SATs permitting, to get involved in some song writing in April and May. We might tempt the boys yet. Marston Montgomery Youth Club are also signed up for some songwriting. The members of both clubs seem to be fuelled during the evening by pop, sweets and crisps. Bet they're glad Jamie Oliver has not cottoned onto this yet.

Home at 10.30pm after a 7.30am start. Phew!

we're off

the well

the yew tree

Off to Doveridge today. I met staff at a residential home for 4 people with learning disabilities. And yes! I am going to work with residents there who at the moment have little contact with the village.

Next I visited the village shop and bought a "village trail" printed by the Village Preservation Society - very usefiul and informative it was too. I tried it out which was a great way of getting to know the patch. And everyone I passed said hello. Felt a bit conspicuous with my camera and wondered how much curiosity I was arousing in such a small village where most people must know their neighbours.

Next - off to the Senior Citizens Club where I was met by organisers Pam and Frank and realised that the hall was set out with chairs in rows, 40 or 50 people wating expectantly - they were expecting a talk from me! And here was me thinking this would be an informal visit. However, we got going - I got to grips with their microphone and I sang them a song made up with older people in Sheffield by way of an introduction. Explained the project and we all thought about the personal "maps" in our heads. Then I handed out envelopes, one by one, each with a different topic on eg "favourite walk", "first love" etc and we all got chatting while I noted it all down on flip chart paper. And I found yet again that no matter where you go, there are interesting and unique things to be discovered - I learned that Robin Hood is supposed to have proposed to Maid Marion under the Yew Tree in the churchyard, there was a local ghost called Molly Morton who frightened people on their bicycles and that people snogged under the well roof in the days before streetlights! In no time it was time for a cuppa and I met several more individuals keen to talk. One man, a local poet has been commissioned by me to write a poem about Doveridge by next time. Everyone seemed to have got the bit between their teeth to continue next time. Hopefully their homework to think of more anecdotes will help. In the meantime, I'll try to make what they have given me into a starting point. They were great. And the choccy biscuits were very welcome.