No procession, but the Morpeth Gathering show goes on

The annual festival celebrating the area’s traditional music, art, dialect, heritage and family activities is taking place next week and it will include concerts and events to mark two very special anniversaries.

One is the 90th birthday of the Morpeth Gadgy, Alex Swailes, and the other is the 140th year since the publication of ‘Northumbrian Minstrelsy’, the bible of North East songs and melodies featuring such iconic items as ‘Water of Tyne’ and ‘Bobby Shaftoe’.

Covid uncertainties have made it impossible for organisers to prepare the usual range of in-person events, and sadly there can be no Border Cavalcade procession or indoor concerts, crafts or competitions.

“But all is not lost!” said Kim Bibby-Wilson, chair of the voluntary committee: “Gathering Saturday, April 23, is also St George’s Day, so look out for our good friends Hexham Morris Men and the new young dance team from Tyneside, Black Gate Morris, who will be dancing at times in the Market Place, Sanderson Arcade and Carlisle Park.”

Another stalwart of the Gathering, storyteller Jim Grant, will be at the Old Bakehouse Yard Millennium Green from 2pm to welcome families to an hour of tales from him and Bedlington-based Anna Fancett.

Anna trained with the Grampian Association of Storytellers in Scotland and, since then, has been telling stories in all sorts of places ranging from soft plays to castles, parks, and even bars, through the UK and the Far East.

Also on the Saturday, music duo The Ran Tanners plan to take time to drop in at the town centre from their stint entertaining at the Castle gatehouse overlooking Carlisle Park.

Entry to the Castle Open Weekend on both the Saturday and Sunday is free, but visitors must book in advance via the Landmark Trust website.

Storyteller Jim is also there on the Saturday morning and throughout the Sunday; refreshments are provided by Morpeth Scouts.

Gathering Friday, April 22, sees one more live event, again needing advance booking.

There are still places available for a limited number of beginners at a Northumbrian Pipe-playing taster day led by tutor Ednie Wilson at Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum.

Details, as for all events, are available at online at www.northumbriana.org.uk/gathering

Saturday, April 23’s free online events follow the successful pattern of last year’s first ever virtual Gathering, which reached both local and global audiences.

There is a full programme of 20 different pre-recorded concerts, stories, displays and presentations on YouTube, live Zoom music and song sessions, a pre-booked Zoom dance workshop, a virtual Town Hall art exhibition and a family art video showing how to make crowns and dolls’ thrones ready for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee parties.

The three main concerts – the family show (Silly Sangs for Bairns), the Gadgy’s Delight (featuring music, dialect and tributes to the indefatigable Alex Swailes) and the Northumbrian Minstrelsy 140th Anniversary – showcase a wealth of Gathering stalwarts and newer faces, including concertina and pipes wizard Alistair Anderson, songwriter Graham Bell, singer Carolyn Robson, shantyman Jim Mageean, singing duos Ken Patterson and Richard Scott and Cath and Paddy Clough, accordionist Colin Bradford and local group Spindlestone (featuring by the wonders of the internet Ray Leonard performing in Canada with Kim and John Bibby in Morpeth).

The virtual events end with the evening monologue ‘Elsie Rides Again’ starring Pat Dunn, the Ashington-born stage and TV actress from hits such as Vera and Coronation Street, following up her success in last year’s one-woman show about Elsie, the sweet little old lady with a secret.

Updates and last-minute changes will be posted on the Morpeth Gathering’s Facebook page.

While all events are free to view, audiences are asked to consider donating towards performers, who have suffered the loss of income during Covid, via their websites.

The Gathering itself needs to cover the considerable costs of the last two years of online productions in order to allow it to continue into the future and it is hoped that it will return at full force next year.

The organisers welcome direct donations via www.gofundme.com/f/morpeth-northumbrian-gathering