Category Archives: music

Halsway Manor House breaks at the heart of the British Folk scene

If you fancy a last-minute holiday or change of scene for half term and enjoy a place with a story, Halsway Manor could be for you.

Halsway Manor is the National Centre for Folk Arts, a charity offering residential folk music courses throughout the year. But Covid restrictions have taken a toll on the programming and while some of the dance and European music events are postponed the venue is offering out its rooms for holiday accommodation. This is a rare treat to stay in a venue with history at the heart of the English Folk Music Scene.

Halsway Manor, with its medieval origins, offers simple, affordable and homely accommodation in beautiful building and grounds. You can expect the same warm and friendly welcome as course participants do with breakfast and evening dinner served in the dining room. The bedrooms recently received a makeover thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund award. The library is also open to guests with its decorative Tudor ceilings and collection of local folklore and music.

The Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are the backdrop for Halsway Manor, making it a perfect base for cycling, walking and nature holidays. You can explore the local villages, footpaths throughout the Quantocks and Exmoor, and the West Somerset coastline all of which are within easy reach. There is plenty of space for arts and crafts activities. And after your day’s adventures you can relax by the fire and enjoy a drink in the panelled bar. Single, double and family rooms are available and each has its own bathroom. With so much space the Manor lends itself to these times and has Visit England’s Good to Go mark.

At a time when music venues and performing artists are struggling this is a great way to support this arts charity which supports musicianship and helps to keep traditional English Folk music scene alive.

To book a stay at Halsway Manor visit www.halswaymanor.org.uk tel 01984 618 274.

‘A balm for the soul’: Two Moors Festival brings live classical music to Wiveliscombe

Exmoor Weekend: 2-4 October – St Andrew’s Church, Wiveliscombe (and Dartmoor Weekend: 26-27 September – St Pancras’ Church, Widecombe-in-the-Moor)

The region’s unique Two Moors Festival will return this autumn, with world-class classical music concerts held in line with current government guidelines.  It will be the first time many of the internationally recognised artists involved have returned to the stage since lockdown.

The classical music events will take place with limited, socially distanced audiences across two weekends: 26-27 September on Dartmoor and 2-4 October on Exmoor, in beautiful church venues in Widecombe and Wiveliscombe.  All concerts will be one hour in length with no interval.

The artists involved have thoughtfully created programmes that are joyful, uplifting and a balm for the soul after lockdown.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Artistic Director of The Two Moors Festival, said: “I am delighted to be unveiling our programme for the 2020 Festival, my first as Artistic Director.  I was one of the Young Musician Competition winners in the very first Festival 20 years ago and have had the pleasure of returning often since then, seeing it grow and flourish.  This year, we will of course have all relevant measures in place to make it safe and enjoyable for all, in line with government guidance. The Two Moors Festival was born out of the foot and mouth crisis and, on our 20th Anniversary, as we find ourselves weathering another crisis, we offer a festival of celebration, bringing the shared, joyful experience of live music back to the Moors, and lifting people’s spirits.”

Over the past two decades, the Two Moors Festival has evolved into one of the most distinctive classical music festivals in the world.

Included in the Festival’s lineup of musical talent this year are performances from brilliant and insightful rising star pianist, Elisabeth Brauss (pictured); jazz star and a BBC New Generation Artist, Misha Mullov-Abbado; and internationally renowned tenor, Nicky Spence, with the great lieder pianist, Chris Glynn.

Ticket booking is now open.

For information on  ticket sales and event safety, please visit www.twomoorsfestival.co.uk

WEST SOMERSET SINGERS PERFORM WITH SIR TIM RICE

On 31 October Fusion Young Performers Choir from Minehead joined with singers from the Centre For Young Musicians Taunton to perform at ‘An Evening of hit songs with Sir Tim Rice’ at Temple Methodist Church in Taunton.

It was part of the new Tyca Festival (Taunton Youth Culture and Arts) and was presented by Arts Taunton.

The combined choirs (conducted by Sarah-Jane Cross and accompanied by Frances Webb on the piano) sang a selection of songs with lyrics written by Sir Tim such as ‘Hakuna Matata’, ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight?’, ‘I Know Him So Well’, ‘Anthem’, ‘Jacob and Sons’, ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’, ‘Any Dream Will Do’, ‘A Whole New World’, ‘One Jump Ahead’, ‘Evermore’ and ‘Fight the Fight’.

In between the songs Charlie Taylor from BBC Somerset conducted an informal interview with Sir Tim Rice talking about his life and work which was very informative and entertaining.

Having had only six and a half weeks of rehearsal time, the singers performed brilliantly and received a standing ovation at the end of the evening. As well as the full choir numbers there were some great solos and duets by performers from both groups. From Fusion – Daniel Boulton, James Boulton, Natalie Woodward, Laura Stephens, Alfie and Alisha Yates, Beth Porter, Leo Ahern,  Ryan Boulton, Jazmyn Phillips, Lennie Stanford and Grace Mclaren. Soloists from CYMT included Kira Kelly, Celandine Hickman, Drew Kehoe, Esme Knight, Melissa Coles, Korben Drew and Ernie Shorten.

Afterwards Sir Tim took the time to have his photo taken with the performers and to sign autographs.

All in all it was a fantastic event for the young people to be involved in and a real honour to sing the songs with the lyricist sitting on the stage with them.

Fusion Young Performers are going straight into rehearsals  for their next show, Sister Act, which they will be performing at the Regal during Easter week next year. To get in touch with Fusion Young Performers which is run by Lorraine Ahern and Sarah-Jane Cross please visit www.fusionyoungperformers.com.

To find out more about Centre For Young Musicians Taunton, a division of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, please visit www.cymtaunton.org.uk.

HALSWAY CONCERT: ANNE NIEPOLD AND RICCARDO TESI

Halsway Manor is delighted to present an evening concert with two extraordinarily gifted and influential European musicians, Anne Niepold and Riccardo Tesi on Thursday 17 October at 8pm. Both are considered amongst the greatest living exponents of the diatonic button accordion (melodeon), though their styles and repertoire vary greatly.

Anne Niepold is a familiar name to many at Halsway, having tutored at several courses at the Manor; this will be Riccardo Tesi‘s first visit to Halsway, and a rare chance to see him play in the UK. Both Anne and Ricardo are tutoring on a week-long Melodeon Workshop for advanced/intermediate players at the Manor, in addition to performing around the UK.

Anne Niepold is a renowned musician and composer. Having started in the world of traditional music, she developed an interest in improvised music and studied jazz composition and arrangement at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she won her Masters degree as well as the prestigious Toots Thielemans Jazz Award. Anne will be debuting material from her new album Vita Brevis.

“Anne is an incredible diatonic accordion player. Nothing scares her. She knows no limits. On the contrary, she magnifies the constraints of her accordion with impressive results.” Accordéon et Accordéonistes magazine

Riccardo Tesi is an internationally acclaimed accordion player and composer, and one of the most daring and authoritative musicians on the European world music scene. He has an instantly recognisable style, drawing on ancient and modern musical languages, he has widened the vocabulary and the technique of an instrument that has long been associated with traditional music. Over 35 years he has played with world music artists such as Elena Ledda, Justin Vali, Kepa Junkera, John Kirkpatrick and Patrick Vaillant, jazz musicians Gianluigi Trovesi and Gabriele Mirabassi, and great songwriters such as Ivano Fossati, Fabrizio De Andrè and Gian Maria Testa. Leader of Banditaliana , one of the most renowned Italian groups on the world music international scene , and member of Samurai, all stars quintet of European accordion players, he has played in the most important jazz and folk festivals all over Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan.

Tickets are priced £10; £4 student concessions. Buy securely online at www.halswaymanor.org.uk.

PHOTO: ®JPohl

EXMOOR COMMUNITY MUSIC PROJECT COMMEMORATES FIRST WORLD WAR CENTENARY

Article and photos by Elizabeth Atkinson, Project Manager for ‘Fragments: Voices from the First World War’

West Somerset will be hosting the world première of a new choral piece by local composer Emily Feldberg on 10 November, involving more than 90 musicians from across Exmoor and beyond. Fragments: Voices from the First World War brings together the voices of British and German people caught up in the war, using original sources from the time. It will have its première at Minehead Avenue Methodist Church on the eve of the centenary of Armistice Day, and will be conducted by leading choral conductor Nigel Perrin. Tickets for the evening performance have already sold out, but there is still an opportunity to hear Fragments at the open rehearsal on the afternoon of 10 November, at the same venue, starting at 2pm.

The composer, who lives in Carhampton, started work on the hour-long piece in 2014, at the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict, and completed it earlier this year. “Writing any music about the First World War is extremely emotional,” she said. “I have spent the last four years both crying for the tragedy and questioning whether I was representing people’s experiences appropriately. I have really tried to let the voices of German and British participants speak for themselves.”

A wide range of texts dating from the First World War have been used for the piece, including the words of a Devon farmer, a Ruhr miner, a German soldier, a woman munitions worker, a grieving mother, a conscientious objector’s memoirs, the Somme Army report, a humorous poem from the Wipers Times and verses found on a scrap of newspaper in a German railway carriage in 1918. Different musical styles in the piece reflect this range. Starting and ending with the words, ‘Lest we forget,’ the music moves the listener from the first swells of patriotic fervour through the tragedy of loss, to the jaunty defiance in the face of danger of the Tommies in the trenches and the women in the munitions factories, and the horrors experienced in the mire of the Somme. It takes in both the agony of decision for conscientious objectors and the stoicism of young British and German soldiers in the face of impending death. The piece draws to an end with the sombre reflection that ‘Peace has come to a suffering world’ and the implied challenge expressed in the words of Quaker peace campaigner Corder Catchpool (1919): “We are only justified in going on living if our futures manifest, at every point and at all times, a heroism equal to that of those killed in battle.”

From the outset, this project has been shaped by the input of many different people in many different ways. “Composing a piece of music is only the beginning,” said Emily. “People have shared stories, suggested ideas, provided texts and given advice and encouragement. Each new contribution has changed and widened the end product. It really has become a community project, not only because of the number of people involved in the first performance, but also because of those who have influenced its development.” Even the publicity has drawn on local inspiration, featuring graffiti scratched into the lead roof of Carhampton church tower 100 years ago: ‘PEACE NOV 11 18’.

The title of the piece was the result of much debate. Eventually, the idea came from Di Osborn of Roadwater, whose husband John is singing in the performance: “I thought perhaps you could call it just Fragments: Voices from the First World War,” she wrote, “then the ‘fragments’ would reference not only the snatches of text but those poor young men who got blown to smithereens and also the fragmented lives caused by warfare.” A century on, those fragments still impact on the lives of most of us, and this has both contributed to the content of the piece and deepened the involvement of many participants, and may well add poignancy to the experience of the audience in November.

Most of the participants have a direct connection to the conflict. The section on Conscientious Objectors was inspired by materials provided by Chris Lawson of Minehead Quakers (Chris and his wife Christina will both be involved in the performance) whose father was a Conscientious Objector in the First World War. Among other materials, Chris provided Emily with the journal of a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit, with which two uncles of Philippa Gerry, who is singing in the piece, also served. Philippa’s father was shot and gassed on the Somme, an aunt supervised hospital trains, a cousin nursed the wounded in northern France and died of pneumonia and two more uncles’ lives were irretrievably changed by shell shock. Thelma Vernon’s grandfather, like so many others, was killed in the first year of the war, while Helen Jowett was moved by her own grandfather’s experience of the trenches to write a poem, ‘Devon Farmer’, which now forms part of the libretto of the piece (the only text not actually dating from the war). And the effect is felt through the generations: the baritone soloist for November’s performance, Jamie Rock (a favourite visiting soloist for Minehead audiences), wrote, “My Great Great Grandfather fought and died in WW1, so it will mean a lot to me and my family to represent his fallen friends and foes. I hope my Granny will be able to make it over for the performance.” And one survivor of the conflict will be present at the performance: Tim Hedgecock will be playing in the orchestra on a violin his grandfather played in an army band in India during the war.

Links with the German experience of the war are also important for many of the participants. Emily has German family links herself, and has also drawn on the accounts of German friends and relatives. Emily’s friend Anna Fleisch related how her grandfather only spoke about one aspect of his experience of the war: although billeted on enemy ground, his unit were given cake by the women in the village on their safe return from the trenches, and Emily has used this for the section entitled ‘Kuchen’ (‘Cake!’) in the piece. For other participants, the German link is more recent: “I’m half German,” said Bill Griffiths. “My mum would have been really proud that I’m doing this.”

Orchestral rehearsals started back in 2017, and a choir of more than 50 singers started rehearsals in April of this year, with members coming from as far afield as London, Yorkshire and Scotland, as well as from a wide range of local choral groups. Participants’ responses to the music have been overwhelming. Helen Jowett wrote, “The music is wonderful and so emotional – I can’t sing ‘Kuchen’ [depicting a mother who has lost her son] without a wobbly voice!” while cellist Jenny Quick wrote, “It is a fantastic achievement and already wielding the power to touch and move us all.” Singer John Osborn, writing in response to a full-day workshop with conductor Nigel Perrin, wrote, “I have Emily’s music in my head all the time. I was three feet off the ground when I got home from Saturday’s workshop – it was one of the best days I’ve ever had.”

For some singers, this is the culmination of a lifetime’s ambition. Tim Pettigrew, who is singing a solo from the choir as a conscientious objector, wrote, “It realises a childhood dream when my Mum started taking me to the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester Cathedral (in the 1950s and ’60s) and I remember being emotionally electrified for days afterwards by the baritone solo of the Priest at the conclusion of Part 1 of The Dream of Gerontius.  I wondered what it must be like to sing something like that and even daydreamed that I might do something similar one day. Well now, some 60 years later, you have realised my dream and have given me a musical experience that I will cherish and which will be with me for the rest of my life.”

The project is also bringing together singers with a wide range of musical experience and expertise: some have never been involved in anything on this scale before and some don’t read music but have learnt the whole piece from singing along with the music on the project website, while others are seasoned performers bringing their skills to the piece to the benefit of all concerned. The orchestra, too, contains players with a wide range of skills and experience, including one adult learner who has never played in an orchestra before. Participants’ own suggestions have also led to additional support: they can now sing along to their own lines on the website, watch videos of rehearsal sections, practise their German pronunciation with online tutorials and attend extra sections for note-learning. “The rehearsals have a real buzz,” said Emily. “You can feel the commitment.”

An Arts Council grant has enabled the amateur performers to work both with conductor Nigel Perrin and with five professional orchestral players, and local individual and business patrons are also supporting the project with funding and services. There are still opportunities to give support: please email emilyfeldberg@btinternet.com or phone 01643 821756 for details.

Entry to the open rehearsal on 10 November is free, but donations towards the cost of the project would be welcomed. Souvenir programmes will be on sale at the rehearsal, containing the full text of Fragments and the composer’s notes on the piece: anyone attending the rehearsal or performance is advised to read these before it starts if they can. As it is a working rehearsal (so visitors are asked to remain silent), there may be some stops and starts, but a full run-through of the hour-long piece is planned for shortly after 2pm.

To find out more about the project and get a flavour of the music, visit www.emily-feldberg-music.uk/ or simply search online for Emily Feldberg music.

PHOTO: Emily, the composer, working with the orchestra.

 

 

 

 

MAGICAL EVENING OF SONG AT MINEHEAD METHODIST CHURCH

There will be another magical evening of song on Saturday 29 September at Minehead Methodist Church starting at 7.30pm. Two years ago, the initial concert was very well received and led to many requests for a repeat performance. Once again, the concert will feature the highly acclaimed Minehead Male Voice Choir and talented soloist Eloise Routledge. All proceeds will be donated to the West Somerset Advice Bureau, a local charity which provides a free, independent advice service to residents across West Somerset.

The Choir has a loyal following of supporters and always provides excellent entertainment with many favourite songs which range from shows, musicals and films, to traditional, folk, spiritual and operetta. Founded in 2000, the Choir has 40 members and is very capably led by Jacqueline Butterworth, an experienced and highly accomplished Musical Director.

Eloise is an experienced opera singer and concert soloist, having performed in the UK and abroad with companies such as Garsington Opera, Holland Opera and Welsh National Opera, and in venues from Birmingham Symphony Hall, Nottingham Albert Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, to Sydney Opera House and major concert halls across Australia as guest soloist on tour with Treorchy Male Voice Choir. Now based in Somerset, Eloise has been singing more locally at Bristol’s Colston Hall and Wells Cathedral, and enjoys bringing a range of repertoire from opera to show greats and well-known favourites to her audience.

It promises, once again, to be a very enjoyable Magical Evening of Song and an opportunity not to be missed!

Tickets are £8.50 and will be available from Toucan Wholefoods in The Parade, Minehead, The Tantivy in Dulverton and from reception at the West Somerset Advice Bureau, Market House Lane, Minehead. Alternatively, please telephone 01398 371248. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

JAZZ AND EXMOOR CHURCHES

The United Reform Church in St Peter’s Street, Tiverton was founded in 1660 by Theophilus Polwheile. It was rebuilt in 1831 with his name prominently displayed. The church was eventually sold and deconsecrated.

Sue Johnston bought the building in 2014 and has transformed it into an arts and community centre, known as the Oak Room. Several hundred years later, although the church survives, it is being used in ways that Theophilus never could have dreamed of. The removal of some pews has provided space for a range of artistic and cultural activities, including drawing classes, yoga, theatre productions, a cookery club, and, on the first Friday of every month, live jazz.

Now, the space that once echoed to “All things bright and beautiful” reverberates to the rhythms of jazz, blues and folk music. Although many of the pews remain, armchairs and sofas provide more comfortable seats for listening to music from New Orleans, Chicago and the West Country. The licensed bar and coffee area would undoubtedly have scandalised.

The high ceiling and wooden floors seem to enhance the acoustic qualities of the space. As Sue points out, it was built before microphones and public address systems, and it was important that the unaided voice of the clergyman could be heard clearly by the congregation.

Another church that regularly echoes to the jazz beat is St Luke’s in Simonsbath on Exmoor. Although still a working church, it is also the main venue for the annual Simonsbath Festival. The festival began in 2011 and has grown ever since, with each year bringing top-class musicians to the tiny and secluded hamlet. Jazz, opera and classical music as well as folk music from around the world have all been featured. The festival runs from May Day to Midsummer.

The connection between churches and jazz has had, for at least one jazz fan, a pleasing circularity. In 2016, Nigel Penfold attended All Saint’s Church in Dulverton to listen to a fund-raising concert by Le Jazz. This is a quartet of musicians who combine classical musical educations with a love of jazz. It was, he said, an eye-opening moment. “The number of people in the audience and the evident enjoyment they got from the music, convinced me that a club dedicated to good, live jazz could be commercially viable”, he says. A month later, the South Molton Jazz Club (SMJC) was born and has now established a regular audience, who meet on the last Friday of every month to enjoy a wide range of jazz styles at the George Hotel, South Molton.

Exactly what constitutes jazz is sometimes a moot question. The West Country has a long history of embracing “Trad” or New Orleans jazz, featuring trombones and banjos. Indeed, some people claim that this is the only “true” jazz. Nigel hopes that his policy of having a different band each month encourages people to be more adventurous. Gypsy jazz one month, an Oscar Peterson piano tribute the next, and saxophonists followed by vocalists all help emphasise the huge range of music available under the jazz banner.

“People reacted well to the concept”, says Nigel. So, in autumn 2017, he started looking for an additional venue in Tiverton. This led him to the Oak Room. Applying the same formula as in South Molton, the First Friday jazz club in the Oak Room has hosted a wide range of bands including Manouche, with gypsy jazz guitar players from Poland, and the more local group Dark Town Strutters (pictured), a New Orleans band of, as he puts it, “Extremely experienced, not to say venerable, musicians”, who describe themselves as the only band listed as a national monument by English Heritage.

New jazz venues are rare and word soon spread through the musicians’ network. Nigel is regularly contacted by foreign music agents seeking gigs for their touring bands.

The prize for the band which travelled furthest to perform for the SMJC goes to the B. D. Lenz trio. This is a New York based jazz/funk combination of guitarist, bass player and drummer who flew into the UK from the US on a Thursday, performed in Birmingham that evening and drove to South Molton to perform the next day. The journey from Birmingham took them seven hours, on one of the hottest days of the year.

“They arrived forty minutes before they were due to play“, says Nigel. “They set up, they played for two hours and they were brilliant”.

Professionalism and experience like that don’t come cheap but, as Theophilus might have said, “Is not the labourer worthy of his hire?”

Future plans include integrating the impressive pipe organ in the Oak Room into a gig. However, finding a keyboard player willing to tackle the enormous instrument has so far proved difficult. The wooden floor also has musical possibilities. Sue’s partner, Ken Maharajah, is a talented artist and one of his favourite subjects is the swirly, passionate flamenco dancers of Andalucia. Following an exhibition of Ken’s paintings at the National Museum of Flamenco in Saville, Nigel’s ambition is to use Ken’s contacts to bring a flamenco dance troupe and band to perform at the Oak Room.

Live music is alive and well in the South West. Sometimes in unlikely places.

Contacts: www.SouthMoltonJazzClub.com 

www.oakroomtiverton.com

www.simonsbathfestival.org.uk 

 

 

 

 

MINEHEAD & EXMOOR MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Regal Theatre is proud once again to welcome the Minehead and Exmoor Music Festival for a week of rehearsals and performance. This is the 55th season of the Minehead & Exmoor Music Festival, which presents a week of concerts across West Somerset. 

The Regal provides a home where the orchestra rehearses and also hosts 3 major concerts.  (The Young Artists’ Concert on Sunday 22 July (at 7pm) and the Chamber Concert on Thursday 27 July (at 4pm) take place at the Methodist Church opposite the theatre.)

The orchestra, which plays a pivotal role in the Minehead Music Festival, was originally founded by Tim Reynish in 1963. It has been running in its present form for 30 years under Artistic Director and Conductor Richard Dickins.  Once again he has produced a fine programme of music which everyone is sure to enjoy. Every year he manages to persuade eminent international soloists as well as up-and-coming stars to come and perform with the orchestra.

The players are drawn from all over the country but most come from the London area where many of them perform with well-established orchestras and chamber groups. They produce high standards of performance which audiences eagerly anticipate.

Here is the festival line-up…

FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA CONCERTS AT THE REGAL THEATRE
CONDUCTED BY RICHARD DICKINS          

TICKETS: Adults £18.00, Students £3.00

Monday 23 July at Regal Theatre, Minehead
The Festival Orchestra conducted by Richard Dickins
Mozart:  Symphony No 35 (Haffner)
Paul Patterson: Double Bass Concerto
A world premiere performance
Soloist Leon Bosch
Mendelssohn: Symphony No 3 (Scottish)

Wednesday 25 July at Regal Theatre, Minehead
The Festival Orchestra conducted by Richard Dickins
Rossini:  Overture to The Barber of Seville
Bruch: Violin Concerto No 1
Soloist Maya Magub
Brahms: Symphony No 3

Saturday 28 July at Regal Theatre, Minehead
END OF FESTIVAL CONCERT
The Festival Orchestra conducted by Richard Dickins
Mozart: Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
Dvorak: Cello Concerto No 1
Soloist Laura van der Heijden  
Shostakovich: Symphony No 5

Tickets are now on sale at the Regal Box Office (01643 706430), 10am – 3pm Monday – Friday, 10am – 1pm Saturday.

BLACKBERRIES AND BANDAGES: CONCERT EVOKES LIFE ON DEVON’S HOME FRONT DURING FIRST WORLD WAR

Devon, 1917, and communities across the county are working harder than ever to bring food to their tables and having to find the time and energy to do their bit for the war effort, too. Women, children, key workers and older men all mucked in together while the county’s young men were away at the Front.

Blackberries and Bandages tells the story, in songs, of what life was like on the Home Front in Devon during the First World War. The concert has been produced by Devon’s community music charity, Wren Music, who were asked to create the musical element of the Devon Remembers Heritage Project, which is running for four years to mark the centenary of the 1914-18 war.

Working with their community choirs and orchestras across the county, Wren have written several songs that reflect what day-to-day life was like for folk back home.

The concert is coming to Holy Trinity Church, Barnstaple, on Saturday 24 June at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5; £3 for Under-16s.
Marilyn Tucker from Wren Music explained: “We did a lot of research during the winter, sifting through old documents at the Devon Heritage Centre and various museums around the county, finding out about the Home Front in Devon.

“We looked through newspaper cuttings, people’s diaries and other historical material and we’ve come up with about 10 songs. But we couldn’t discover the folk songs that were being sung at the time because nobody seems to have written that down anywhere and we decided that if there was no evidence that particular songs were sung on the Home Front in Devon, then we wouldn’t include them.”

Blackberries and Bandages is therefore a concert of largely new songs, with place names and people’s names in them, so the concert is really located in Devon. “The songs are all informed by the research we did,” said Marilyn. “For example, we found a poem with the theme of ‘this week’s menu’ which was quite derogatory about the food people were getting so we’ve put that to music.

“There’s also a scurrilous little verse about Dad’s Army, from the Sampford Voluntary Training Corps in Sampford Peverell. And we’ve got reports of a concert party in Exeter where there was a famous concertino trio, so we’ve chosen one of the tunes they played.”
From the research, Wren learnt more about the role that nature and natural remedies played on the Home Front, which is why the concert is called Blackberries and Bandages: “People spent a lot of their time foraging,” said Marilyn. “Many of the women who went into nursing had never worked before, they were quite genteel, not like the women who had to work on the land during the First World War. The nurses would use foraged sphagnum moss which was then dried and used for bandages because the moss has healing properties. They’d use these bandages for injured soldiers that came home but they also sent some to the Front as well.”

One of the songs Marilyn has written is called ‘The Lilies of the Valley’: “These flowers were used medicinally and they were thought to counteract the effects of mustard gas by flushing out toxins. So the flowers were foraged and used by nurses in the VAD (voluntary aid detachment) hospitals.

“The children did their bit too. They’d collect conkers to make cordite for ammunition. Anything that could be foraged was foraged, and of course all the fruit like blackberries would be made into jams and sent to the Front.”

The role of women working the land is celebrated in a song Wren have written called ‘Bidlake Girls’, about the women’s co-operative that was set up at a large farm near Bridestowe: “Up until then, they used to say ‘women can’t work on the farms, they’ll curse the land!’ Well, they had to forget about all that nonsense,” said Marilyn.
Wren found cuttings about the conscientious objectors being held at Dartmoor Prison and learnt that Devon as a county was reluctant to go to war: “We didn’t sign up like the rest of the country in the early days of the war, when it was a volunteer army,” said Marilyn. “It wasn’t until conscription was introduced in 1916 that men from Devon went to the Front in large numbers.”

Marilyn added: “It’s a concert, not a story, but at the same time I think we’ve covered most of the main themes. And we’ve tried not to be too downhearted about it; everybody knows about the First World War don’t they? So we’ve looked at it and asked, ‘What was the effect on people’s lives on the Home Front?’ ‘What about the lesser-told stories, some of the things we don’t know so well?”

The first half of each concert features a repertoire from 50 members of Wren’s community choirs and orchestras local to that area; the second half is Blackberries and Bandages, bringing together the 20 members from across the groups who have worked on the concert.
The groups involved in the Blackberries and Bandages concert are the Rough Music Orchestras of North and East Devon and Torbay, and the Voices in Common folk choirs from West, North, East Devon, Exeter and Torbay. Marilyn is the concert artistic director, with Paul Wilson and David Faulkner sharing musical direction.
The opening concert slots are being performed by the Folk Choirs of West and North Devon and The Folk Orchestra of North Devon in Barnstaple; the Folk Choirs of Torbay and Exeter and The Folk Orchestra of Torbay in Paignton; and East Devon Folk Choir and The Folk Orchestra of East Devon in Honiton.

For tickets to the Barnstaple concert, call 01837 53754.

The concert tour in full: All start at 7.30pm, tickets £5; £3 for Under-16s.  Holy Trinity Church, Barnstaple on Saturday 24 June (for tickets, contact 01837 53754); Palace Theatre, Paignton, Saturday 1 July (01803 665800); and Beehive, Honiton, on Saturday 8 July (01404 384050).

PHOTO: Newly recruited nurses with Sphagnum moss, Princetown, 1917. Courtesy Halsgrove Publishing.

ARE YOU GOING TO OCEANFEST? SNAP YOUR TICKET UP NOW!

We predict a Riot! Devon’s longest running Surf & Music Festival tickets selling out fast.

Now in its 19th continuous year – a huge achievement in itself – the GoldCoast Oceanfest team are delighted with the way tickets are going. “It’s been our fastest-selling year for a long while,” says festival co-organiser Warren Latham. “Maybe it’s the sunshine which always brings people to the coast, or maybe everyone just wants to get out and let their hair down for a weekend and forget about any political shenanigans. We are looking forward to welcoming them all.”

Whatever the reason, Goldcoast Oceanfest, taking place mid-summer weekend 16-18 June 2017 beside the sea at Croyde Bay in North Devon, is all set to welcome its biggest crowds. And it’s not just the surf that will be pounding.

Friday evening kicks off with a cool DJ set by SIGMA. Multiple Brit-award winning, indie-rock band, KAISER CHIEFS will top the bill on Saturday night and SCOUTING FOR GIRLS will be Sunday’s headliners.  The Cuban Brothers, Charlie Sloth, The Shelters, Gentlemen’s Dub Club, Willie and The Bandits and Alice Jemima are amongst other great acts playing the sunshine stage this year. There’s also a second stage, complete with Bar and Cider garden, offering an alternative music choice and stand-up comedy with the Comedy Avengers.

Always a family event, there will  be a circus performance area complete with aerial rig and stilt walkers weaving magic and imagination with live music workshops, lego making and crafts, storytelling and drumming. Food outlets, stalls and a fab chill-out zone are all in the mix.

Sports action takes place down on Croyde beach with football and volleyball tournaments, surfing and water sports.

A 3-Day Festival Ticket costs £59 per adult, £52 per child (under 18) and to encourage families, a 3-Day Festival Family Ticket costs just £150 (2 adults & 2 children). Under 6s: booking fee only. www.goldcoastoceanfest.co.uk

Wake up to the sound of the waves in weekend accommodation right across the road at Parkdean Resorts Ruda Holiday Park. (Costs from £699 – sleeping up to 8 in a 3-bed caravan. www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk (0344 3353450) There are many other campsites, B&Bs, cottages and hotels in the local area.

Grown from grassroots beginnings, Goldcoast Oceanfest is run by two eco-minded brothers who have a huge respect for the wonderful north Devon coastal playgrounds. The festival is a true family lifestyle event, with festival-goers encouraged to sign up and join in with the beach soccer, beach volleyball, surfing and ocean swimming competitions.