Always Remembered

M@HoT’s youth folk band Cream Tees played an integral part in the project, initially by learning folk tunes and songs contemporary to the conflict that were likely to have been popular in Teesdale at the time. Working with their tutors from the Folk & Traditional Music BA at Newcastle University they began to arrange songs and tunes such as It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Redwing, Keep the Home Fires Burning and Your King and Country Wants You.

The aim was to create a digital record of each memorial’s location. Using field recording and photography, Rupert roamed across Teesdale finding secluded spaces and quiet places where each memorial stood, remembering those from each community that had served in the Great War.

The band also joined Mike and Rupert for one of their trips out in the dale, and were able to visit a range of different memorials from the Barnard Castle Post Office, local graveyards, churches and the public park at The Bowes Museum.

As they visited each site, new stories came into focus, as well as the opportunity to develop their own thoughts and reflections both on the conflict 100 years ago – but also how it is seen now in the modern day.

These thoughts were taken into workshops, where they began to translate their ideas into music with Rupert – reflecting on their ideas, their own family histories and on objects they were able to examine from The Bowes Museum’s WW1 Archive.

A weekend workshop was held in June at The Hub in Barnard Castle and Bowes Village Hall with Niamh Boadle and Cream Tees’ long-term tutor Ian Stephenson along with Rupert and volunteer tutor, Sarah Boddy. This gave the Cream Tees youth folk band members the chance to develop original compositions, building on their reflections from visiting memorial sites and cemeteries. The young musicians experimented with drones and how to create atmosphere and ambience with their instruments. These were recorded by Rupert to compliment the field recordings from each of the memorial locations. You can hear them featuring as the soundtrack to each of the videos.

On Friday 8th July 2016, marking the centenary of the Battle of The Somme and bringing the project to a close, Cream Tees had a day’s workshop and tuition with John Kirkpatrick at Teesdale School, learning new ‘tunes from the trenches’ and getting ready for a wonderful performance that night at The Witham in Barnard Castle. The Teesdale Longsword Dance team performed their new dance on stage to a very appreciative audience. For their final number, the young musicians were joined on stage by John himself to sing a rousing rendition of ‘Good-bye-ee’ – a song he had taught them at the workshop that same afternoon.

It was an incredible way to wrap up the project, combining humour, humility and a growing awareness of history – and how the First World War affected Teesdale.

We are very grateful to the Heart of Teesdale landscape partnership, Barnard Castle Town Council, the Mewhort Trust and Grass Roof Records who each helped fund the project.