tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53141705332830342002024-03-05T04:55:18.890-08:00Iron Awejohn a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-9582242493260049672016-02-27T03:37:00.000-08:002016-02-28T01:49:58.335-08:00‘How should decisions about heritage be made?’ A few weeks ago the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) had an exhibition called “Localism,” telling the story of art in and around Middlesbrough, it including New Boosbeck Industries, a project that revisits designs and furniture making from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Boosbeck Industries was part of a fantastic story called Heartbreak Hill. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0y8uYx9LpKP6TjajE6J_1j3J9p5r_kCTYOvn-X2iBoxvnJKaywMARuCS4I2siWvBKH9CF9nHKDqewOLVOzeUtJ2L3bGgl3Cx8O4bSpo6vv6_Igv56s18MIL2xpmIxyj2xWRqtbJZHqs/s1600/mima+O.Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0y8uYx9LpKP6TjajE6J_1j3J9p5r_kCTYOvn-X2iBoxvnJKaywMARuCS4I2siWvBKH9CF9nHKDqewOLVOzeUtJ2L3bGgl3Cx8O4bSpo6vv6_Igv56s18MIL2xpmIxyj2xWRqtbJZHqs/s400/mima+O.Hall.jpg" /></a></div>
The above picture was taken in 1932 in the grounds of Ormesby Hall, it can be found in the book Heartbreak Hill by Malcolm Chase and Mark Whyman and some of the people in the photograph had their stories told at MIMA. Wilf Franks was the first Englishman to attend the famous Bauhaus art school in Germany and Bernard Aylward who later became an important national figure in secondary school craft and design technology, were both involved with Boosbeck furniture making - a project Prince George was told about when he visited the region in 1933. Jasper Rootham later worked with Chamberlain and Churchill. James Roberson became director of the Saddlers Wells. David Ayerst was a writer for The Guardian. Michael Tippet who later became one of England’s major composers and a giant of opera. Also in the photograph is Frida Stewart who later made a name helping orphaned children in the Spanish Civil War, perhaps she speaks for the rest of the group when she later wrote.<i> They certainly made a lasting impression on me; the visits to Boosbeck, the squalor of the little houses, the poverty and deprivation of the unemployed were unforgettably. And so were the people themselves, standing up to the insult of a society which had thrown them on the scrap heap with an independence of spirit and a sense of humour that amazed me.</i> Ormesby Hall was owner by the Major James Pennyman, chairman of the Cleveland Conservative Association and his communist wife Ruth. Ruth Pennyman and David Ayers wrote the words for the Robin Hood opera. <i>Oh God he made the cottager, he made him strong and free, but the devil made the landlord, to steal from you and me.</i> An important figure, not in the photograph, was Rolf Gardiner He was a friend of the writer D. H. Lawrence and involved Germans in the project. A talk was also given about the unemployed Cleveland ironstone miners and their families (there was 91% unemployment at the time)
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Mike Benson (centre) and I were asked to speak at MIMA about how we and the rest of the Iron Awe volunteers tried three times to produce a film about Heartbreak Hill and also produce the opera Robin Hood associated with the project.
I first met Mike in 2002 we were both volunteers storytellers at an ironstone mining museum in East Cleveland, together with other volunteers we started taking our stories into the communities and some of our work can be seen below. The important museum decisions were made by just two people, they didn’t understand or support our pioneering community work so we formed Iron Awe and in September 2004 we left the museum. At the end of the year Mike was asked to leave the steelworks, and turn around Ryedale Folk Museum, a museum bankrupt of money and ideas. <b>http://www.ryedale.gov.uk/ Case Study - Ryedale Folk Museum.</b> In 2011 South Tyneside Council asked him to do the same at Bede’s World and a few weeks ago he became Director of the National Coal Mining Museum of England. Mike lived a few miles from me and I have worked with him as a museum volunteer for fourteen years, but the NCMME in Wakefield is a little too far for me to go. <br />
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Film making and music are a small, but important part of community heritage storytelling and Mike Benson has worked with the communities in East Cleveland and Ryedale to produce over a dozen films, a film we made about whaling included a folk opera. .
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<b>Young actors in "The Reskue" and on stage with The Moorland Whalers.</b>
I made the harpoons and talked at MIMA about how this fitted in with secondary school craft and design technology and how my school woodwork room was just five miles from Boosbeck.
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The Pitmen Painters were formed in 1934 and in the same year Cleveland ironstone miners performed Tippett’s first opera Robin Hood. North East coal miners have used the Pitmen Painters to tell the world their story, why were East Cleveland ironstone miners and their descendants, denied the same? <br />
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Mike and I have attended many meetings over the last six years with people who are trying to make heritage decision making more democratic, I often use Heartbreak Hill as an example. The volunteer group Iron Awe had hundreds of people, including several schools, funding officers and the BBC supporting our attempt to produce the film Heartbreak Hill and the opera Robin Hood, yet a small group of unaccountably people given the money and power to define our heritage, including one who broke the rules, stopped people in East Cleveland from putting their heritage on the world stage. <span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This example is from my home region, but I tell similar stories from other parts of the country.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><strong>Do you want to be involved with making decisions about your heritage, or are you content handing over money and power to a few unaccountable people and let them decide which part of your heritage is saved and which part is lost? The unaccountable few will not give up their power easily; we will only get control of our heritage when we demand it, or as I said at a meeting in York a few months ago "is it time to start a revolution?"</strong></span><br />
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john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-16066370270073601932015-05-07T02:38:00.003-07:002015-05-13T02:42:04.232-07:00Iron Awe<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Iron Awe has
never disbanded, but we have become disillusioned with the way decisions about our
heritage are being made.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I started
working at a volunteer run, storytelling museum at the start of this millennium.
The museum wasn’t attracting many local people, so I joined some of the other
volunteers in taking stories out into the community, unfortunately the few
people responsible for making the important decisions at the museum didn’t
support our work, we formed Iron Awe and four months later we left the museum.
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some of the Iron Awe team have worked at several museums outside the district of
East Cleveland and found undemocratic heritage decision making is a national
problem.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My
definition of heritage is anything that was built, made or happened yesterday
and heritage belongs to us all. If you can accept that, why should a few unelected,
unaccountable people be making decisions about what heritage is saved and what
part of our heritage is lost?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">About eight
years ago groups of people started looking at ways of getting communities
involved with their heritage, particularly with museums and because we had
spent several years at museums working with communities, some of the Iron Awe
team were asked to get involved. “Whose cake is it anyway?” and “How should
decisions about heritage be made?”<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
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</span><br />
</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Although
these worthwhile projects will make some difference, I believe major changes
will only happen when communities in this country treat heritage the same way
as they treat education, health and crime prevention and demand politicians
look at how public money can be better spent on saving our heritage,
by involving the public in heritage decision making.</span></span></span><br />
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john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-58163179122524384632011-11-07T08:06:00.000-08:002012-10-02T02:00:27.831-07:00Teesside TroubadourIn September 2004 as the Iron Awe team premiered "Demonstration Day" in Middlesbrough Town Hall, across the road outside the local cinema, hundreds of people were ignoring the new Harry Potter movie and queuing up to see Craig Hornby’s film "A Century in Stone" A film about the Cleveland ironstone mining industry <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETRbIHNhFeIS1ApPdGweP1_cJNpYMlyrKNEF_u_ETGO1mKs9qFae-iEdLhCwsLPpth1sF5hxsw_bIRj-zD1ZJjdvTSHdZ0VuB_V8LlT7jar1PIdI61CFSSr5XM6AWqYbN7U78gZuu9K8/s1600/Boulby-FarmS.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETRbIHNhFeIS1ApPdGweP1_cJNpYMlyrKNEF_u_ETGO1mKs9qFae-iEdLhCwsLPpth1sF5hxsw_bIRj-zD1ZJjdvTSHdZ0VuB_V8LlT7jar1PIdI61CFSSr5XM6AWqYbN7U78gZuu9K8/s400/Boulby-FarmS.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695730366264429314" /></a><br />Craig Hornby’s latest film "Teesside Troubadour" tells the story of Vin Garbutt, who for over forty years has been using music and song to tell the world about the people and places of Teesside. Vin now lives in an old farmhouse near Loftus, half a mile from Cleveland's first ironstone mine. <br /><br />Both these films are available on DVD and are both highly recommended.john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-12373970257684945592011-08-02T12:24:00.000-07:002015-05-12T03:17:49.196-07:00The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Family of Kate Middleton (Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0YtLfrm15-7uwZhe98GYlmRdvsusBanu7BNZW2Yq5x21vdYqfVjExmBfm09o5mTtOPIO5DOn8dWLY2KyXcKKRbbe3dfc1wyGop7BNhdjeWXLJknvkAtuJDDOTvcJEmmlQcZoPgTDgDg/s1600/kate-middleton-wedding-hair.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636547443732410706" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0YtLfrm15-7uwZhe98GYlmRdvsusBanu7BNZW2Yq5x21vdYqfVjExmBfm09o5mTtOPIO5DOn8dWLY2KyXcKKRbbe3dfc1wyGop7BNhdjeWXLJknvkAtuJDDOTvcJEmmlQcZoPgTDgDg/s400/kate-middleton-wedding-hair.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
At the wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton on the 29 April 2011, much was made of the fact that one of Kate’s Great-Great-Grandfathers was a coal miner from Durham, there was no mention of Kate’s ironstone mining heritage. Below is a part of Kate's mother’s side of her family tree, surprisingly it shows a Middleton. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoHfK3PB-BwERbEYm3LqB1SbRntmv-QMK34w3tz1fPPknnnPl1YEoRP-cGt0YQmmJWPPgxqe1LSnD5VV4IVTyOWA1xb2PnLSlMJkfNGqGWMAZdrJsQ3ZXpJeS_Xx00HEKZTOZ5PG03fIA/s1600/kate+013.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636349093301688386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoHfK3PB-BwERbEYm3LqB1SbRntmv-QMK34w3tz1fPPknnnPl1YEoRP-cGt0YQmmJWPPgxqe1LSnD5VV4IVTyOWA1xb2PnLSlMJkfNGqGWMAZdrJsQ3ZXpJeS_Xx00HEKZTOZ5PG03fIA/s400/kate+013.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 279px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDz6zGd-BXTZQMM4zSOZxEdksOwyPuVoYc8P10qAiLlc8KLaBsw7sEmcfcrL7SzSrsGnXd7hamOwqKFBqSpcTJIA4VOitBke3Cl6hLHQZJ-_5aPThdRjiT5SQWE-rTmu-vjdm4ZxRDs1w/s1600/kate+015.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636349269984019362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDz6zGd-BXTZQMM4zSOZxEdksOwyPuVoYc8P10qAiLlc8KLaBsw7sEmcfcrL7SzSrsGnXd7hamOwqKFBqSpcTJIA4VOitBke3Cl6hLHQZJ-_5aPThdRjiT5SQWE-rTmu-vjdm4ZxRDs1w/s400/kate+015.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 324px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
There were over eighty ironstone mines in Cleveland, the first one opened in 1847 and the last one closed in 1964; there were several mines in Brotton, and several more five miles away in Guisborough. Brotton ironstone miners organised the first union in 1872 and the same year the first Demonstration day or gala was held at Skelton, halfway between Brotton and Guisborough. Kate’s Great-Great-Grandfather Thomas Temple was an ironstone miner in 1871 and was living in Brotton in 1874, he would have been a member of the union and attended several of the yearly Demonstration days.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On a personal note, my great grandfather William Lawson, an
ironstone miner, married Mary Robinson on Christmas day 1875 at Brotton Parish
Church, a year after ironstone miner Joseph Temple’s Daughter Elisabeth was
born in Brotton.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-64127394371173436772011-07-26T01:08:00.000-07:002014-07-23T07:50:27.714-07:00The King's Ear<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/heYW1IKB588" width="425"></iframe><br />
In 2006 St. Joseph's School, Loftus celebrated its 100th birthday and made a film about life in Loftus in 1906, the children did all the acting, all the filming and helped write the script. The film was made in just two and a half days at eight different locations around Loftus and cost nothing to make; unfortunately we had little time for editing before the premiere, so the sound could have been better.<br />
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In 1906, our MP Herbert Samuel was also the Home Secretary, he was at first against giving women the vote, but after the Great War he changed his mind, he later gave woman the right to become MPs. (From the book <em>People of the past in Loftus by Eric M. Jackson</em>.)john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-73851057406328733522010-10-22T09:08:00.000-07:002010-12-23T05:00:59.996-08:00Reviving RobinIt a year since Iron Awe assembled a choir in the Station Hotel Boosbeck, and sang songs from Sir Michael Tippetts first opera Robin Hood. We are still trying to get funding to complete the project. BBC Radio 3 are repeating Reviving Robin on Saturday, October 30th at 12.15pm<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2iAgGfJUlLW7huKfOo91LIE4uAXo_nKvCB_f5p9uecwLU4Afbkt8dGIs88pr0WMSWw86JJdLvORnkaXreUSYSw3KngvhP3qt6MLbpf69h21DcYo6SfiKG236kc_HLcS3_1diTmjo7eY/s1600/phpQaCZk6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2iAgGfJUlLW7huKfOo91LIE4uAXo_nKvCB_f5p9uecwLU4Afbkt8dGIs88pr0WMSWw86JJdLvORnkaXreUSYSw3KngvhP3qt6MLbpf69h21DcYo6SfiKG236kc_HLcS3_1diTmjo7eY/s320/phpQaCZk6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This photograph was taken at Boosbeck in the1920s, it is said to be of a soup kitchen?<br />
The photograph was kindly contributed by Margaret O'Shea. Her grandmother Sarah Robinson (nee Armstrong) is third from the left in the front row in the dark dress with the white collar. Margaret thinks her Grandfather George Robinson, who was a mines deputy, could be also in the photo but unfortunately she doesn't know which one he is - can anyone help?<br />
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john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-75830283364476322172010-07-23T10:55:00.000-07:002010-07-23T11:27:37.799-07:00Boosbeck and Lingdale<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both" class="separator"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFUMXVGnBp-yM-UUBM_HsXc9AEN5CLi75N29WI2VwL-Vi5DFgN_D_uXh5PkRhsaAtJ7Wad62AGzEBh71FYIgEisxyiqNDKCWJUNDxHkOTNxds0TydTfua2yBPWq5feYZo3TfZzx5ge0E/s1600/boos+ling+1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFUMXVGnBp-yM-UUBM_HsXc9AEN5CLi75N29WI2VwL-Vi5DFgN_D_uXh5PkRhsaAtJ7Wad62AGzEBh71FYIgEisxyiqNDKCWJUNDxHkOTNxds0TydTfua2yBPWq5feYZo3TfZzx5ge0E/s320/boos+ling+1.jpg" width="320" height="239" hw="true" /></a></div>Boosbeck and Lindale are two old ironstone mining villages a mile apart, they were both involved with the land schemes of the1930s. (Heartbreak Hill) Two days ago some of the Iron Awe team took some of the film props from Demonstration day to Boosbeck and supported the opening of a new playground on the old pit yard. Three years ago we did the same thing when they unveiled a sign in the village.<br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both" class="separator"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBNUZjt3diKA6SvE5Vm86BC4bpcFA6uZCrf4kYMD-iIexRi8fo3yNU6fS5KJG_GCf4vyChWpiFEtiJylG6WADtbcXKjXC6-PxG8jSqXt7wYlXjxaUthpDXz0U9U75EmIrTUgRmD0tKTM/s1600/boos+ling+2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBNUZjt3diKA6SvE5Vm86BC4bpcFA6uZCrf4kYMD-iIexRi8fo3yNU6fS5KJG_GCf4vyChWpiFEtiJylG6WADtbcXKjXC6-PxG8jSqXt7wYlXjxaUthpDXz0U9U75EmIrTUgRmD0tKTM/s320/boos+ling+2.jpg" width="320" height="221" hw="true" /></a></div>Last year we went to Lindale when they opened a new playground with an ironstone mining theme. <em>That's the way to keep children interested in their heritage.</em><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both" class="separator"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkuDWrFLGW0ej7IzHFPQFrd5UHLINiSqu_Mv5J08oryQ8CCOmKhsvfoAfPCINqDJXnjkM9ccCqgDjqFfhliiIu7IoY5hXym5j0xpMWI7dXZSIYC3P6UmsdBlS77S4TDiNHw-QKf52ntQ/s1600/boos+ling+3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkuDWrFLGW0ej7IzHFPQFrd5UHLINiSqu_Mv5J08oryQ8CCOmKhsvfoAfPCINqDJXnjkM9ccCqgDjqFfhliiIu7IoY5hXym5j0xpMWI7dXZSIYC3P6UmsdBlS77S4TDiNHw-QKf52ntQ/s400/boos+ling+3.jpg" width="400" height="221" hw="true" /></a></div>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-8030269048687646202010-07-17T04:14:00.000-07:002011-08-03T06:09:59.224-07:00Looking BackI have been involved with dozens of storytelling projects, and once we start collecting stories its surprising how small the world seems. I have been looking at songs with the title Heartbreak Hill; Fats Domino, The Strawbs and Emmylou Harris have all recorded different tracks, the one below was co-written and is sung by Daisy Hicks an Australian who was born in England. <br />Mick Benson, a key member of the Iron Awe team, is director of the Ryedale Folk Museum and lives in East Cleveland, I regularly go with him to the museum and do volunteer work. The twenty mile journey includes going over Blakey Ridge a twelve mile stretch where the only building we pass is The Lion Inn.<br />In the early 1970s a three piece jazz band called Back Door started playing regular sessions at The Lion Inn, they quickly became popular and played at Ronnie Scott's Club in London, Colin Hodgkinson, the bass player, was a southerner, but Ron Aspery, the saxophonist, and Tony Hicks, the drummer, were both from Middlesbrough. The band split up in the late 1970,s and Tony Hicks took his family, including young Daisy, to Australia. Tony sadly died there in 2006. <br />When Back Door travelled from Middlesbrough to Blakey they would pass our Heartbeak Hill, they would also drive over holes in the earth where Cleveland miners had taken away the ironstone that became the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so although the links are tenuous, they are there - anyway its a nice song.<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cEQiqJ7efvI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />I am an unpaid storyteller, occasionally I get expenses for my work, but mostly I don’t. I want the world to know about the history of my part of the world and I always give credit to people for the work I use. This video was put on You Tube with buttons allowing it to be shared and before it was removed I was sharing it. John Lawson 03-08-2011<br /><br /><br />This is Back Door playing at The Lion Inn Blakey in 2003 - turning the clock back thirty years. <br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cf5BPZTdtV4&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cf5BPZTdtV4&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Middlesbrough born Chris Rea is closely related to Tony and Daisy Hicks.<br />This is Chris singing Steel River, a song about the river Tees.<br />(There would be no Steel River without the Cleveland ironstone miners.)<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BOSA5v-foMs&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BOSA5v-foMs&hl=en_GB&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-20939982310085892112010-03-24T11:57:00.000-07:002010-03-26T13:20:32.232-07:00Heartbreak HillTippett's Robin Hood is just one part of the Heartbreak Hill story, a fantastic story that deserves more recognition. Iron Awe will involve about 200 local people in the Heartbreak Hill/Robin Hood projects, many of these will be young people who will be trained in film making, scriptwriting, acting and music, for that we will need funding. The Iron Awe team are confident that the film Heartbreak Hill will be made, and a new version of Tippett's opera Robin Hood will be performed. Photographs from some of Iron Awe's projects in 2003.<br />
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I can only find one small piece of music from Iron Awes projects with children in 2003, the main music is played by university students who worked with us in 2003 on the award winning film The Accident. <br />
(See Post "The Accident")john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-71436941771085643872009-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:002012-01-14T02:23:19.704-08:00IRON AWE - The beginning<div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5kIM7DJ64tW1FHRkyMxkRTyuFakohMGByvT_KUT80GfTY7XiaozYNuAzL2yIg2sgHlFI-6dEoucKUFH2Wn0OatjuhzUaqzt4u7k7E-FRvxPx8RiYMFjcoN8rpPmqsqwZ6rMaU1WGmf4/s1600-h/Picture2+copy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413695467277615170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5kIM7DJ64tW1FHRkyMxkRTyuFakohMGByvT_KUT80GfTY7XiaozYNuAzL2yIg2sgHlFI-6dEoucKUFH2Wn0OatjuhzUaqzt4u7k7E-FRvxPx8RiYMFjcoN8rpPmqsqwZ6rMaU1WGmf4/s400/Picture2+copy.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a> In 2003 a group of volunteers from East Cleveland, (ironstone mining country) took several bags of “old stuff” into old people's homes and collected stories, they then took the stories and “old stuff” into schools – Iron Awe was born. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGL4blRunNLlIGSg6AuIScIJ6kZiHSPxIZeTW4gMryodF3sRjh8YlUXVDxTabJjjzJs9111hx8Kp1OLs1tlZzrwLE5_cSA5H8LkCUuFn0BWeUDts6jzBOHxi0uKgi5kv0J5vf7w60KBgo/s1600/school.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 346px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGL4blRunNLlIGSg6AuIScIJ6kZiHSPxIZeTW4gMryodF3sRjh8YlUXVDxTabJjjzJs9111hx8Kp1OLs1tlZzrwLE5_cSA5H8LkCUuFn0BWeUDts6jzBOHxi0uKgi5kv0J5vf7w60KBgo/s400/school.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5697431153476914866" /></a><br />Our community work atracted funding and we started using film and music to tell the stories, the award winning film The Accident, was followed by the epic film Demonstration Day; we have continued our community work and are now planning our biggest project yet.</div>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-42629674630106345422009-11-03T06:03:00.000-08:002010-02-20T10:13:05.927-08:00A snippet of Tippett 2Last night the Iron Awe team, together with people from Boosbeck and East Cleveland, spent a second evening in The Station Hotel, again singing songs from Michael Tippett's first opera Robin Hood, this time the event was recorded by BBC Radio 3*<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwD8qj2WT6896w0uMSy9-hdtBxpGwxuT73fCVrgCURvimwGpmgSeUXc8wFbmcrA6mbQ06ftMxGy_mJHEwSTyQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />We hope this will attract the support and funding necessary to make a new version of the Robin Hood opera, and make a film of the Heartbreak Hill story. *BBC Radio 3, 12-15pm Saturday November 28th, Reviving Robinjohn a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-74313363420235026022009-10-13T02:29:00.000-07:002010-04-24T01:42:25.612-07:00A snippet of Tippett 1The Iron Awe team have started telling the story of Heartbreak Hill. Part of the story involves Sir Michael Tippett's first opera Robin Hood, with music that has not been heard for over seventy years.<br />
<em>God bless our valiant Robin Hood<br />
And may he never swing,<br />
Who fights the battles for the poor;<br />
The outlaw shall be King.</em><br />
Last night I sat in the Station Hotel Boosbeck with some of the Iron Awe team and local people, we were singing songs written in 1934 for the out of work ironstone miners of Boosbeck and their families, with the keyboard player reading music in Tippetts own hand, and playing it for the first time in seventy-five years.john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-85802485138051755782009-08-21T06:37:00.000-07:002010-03-25T07:57:23.387-07:00Iron MasksSkinningrove 2003. Saltburn artist Andy Broderick and local young people use driftwood and ocre (ironstone waste) to make masks.<br /><OBJECT id=BLOG_video-3ac3177a1ea67d0c class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="3ac3177a1ea67d0c"></OBJECT>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-36394824377589964872009-08-19T11:45:00.001-07:002012-01-14T02:44:23.765-08:00Jez Lowe Fans (aren't we all?)I thought I would write a story for all the Jez Lowe fans that have stumbled across this blog and found a song by Jez they haven’t heard before. The director of the film Demonstration Day, Neil Scarth, was friendly with Jez, and asked him to write the film’s theme song. Jez was not familiar with East Cleveland towns and had originally written, “In every town from Skelton to Brotton” I pointed out to Neil that Brotton was only about a mile from Skelton, and “Eston to Brotton” would sound better, so when I am being mischievous I tell people I am a co-writer of Cleveland Iron. One of my photographs shows one of the young stars being interviewed by Luke Casey, a reporter from the local news programme Look North. At that time the show's presenter Mike Neville and weatherman Bob Johnson used to do a bit of a double act, so at the end of Luke’s film Mike said to Bob “that’s the way to teach kids history” and as every Jez Lowe fan should know, "If Mike Neville said it then it must be true." <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhMVWr0ZXdfOiihQVNS7qtI8xEEiHeDhdPvXL3QW0-O17O7K2vym1PuQPwM6eE-hFy6dEtqU_YynFKWRc-g71Ibhbf8aiGpI1CcvBYp4JFHS7MxcavsJZq-os3biw-bCe1nqJ_Ji8CGs/s1600/077.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhMVWr0ZXdfOiihQVNS7qtI8xEEiHeDhdPvXL3QW0-O17O7K2vym1PuQPwM6eE-hFy6dEtqU_YynFKWRc-g71Ibhbf8aiGpI1CcvBYp4JFHS7MxcavsJZq-os3biw-bCe1nqJ_Ji8CGs/s400/077.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5697436580258023202" /></a><br />Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies at the premiere of Demonstration Day. Middlesbrough Town Hall. 15th September 2004john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-38036420418388561372009-06-25T12:04:00.000-07:002009-08-13T06:37:36.752-07:00The Big DebateIn 2004 I was given a book of ironstone mining rules, it had been found in the mine managers house at the old Whitecliffe mine. The first rule read <em>"After the 1st July 1861, it shall not be lawful for the owner of any mine or colliery, to employ any male person under the age of twelve years. A boy above the age of ten years and under the age of twelve years, may be employed in a mine or colliery upon either of the following conditions, that is to say:- that before any such boy is so employed the owner of the mine shall,obtain a certificate under the hand of a competent schoolmaster that such a boy is able to read and write; Or, That the owner shall obtain a certificate under the hand of a competent schoolmaster that such a boy has attended school for not less than three hours a day for two days in each week."<br /></em><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOZXYL0ez5W7FkMaxcZnIMGWthRkHphinxrRD39aEj3CaHhUDDG6tyul6sebL2yM1HLNeZzK7Qu1vAxX2EPtbAnvdr09ErwgVeycGBOwFDeDcRAh_KoOZlMmKInTTmmh2dgB6njpq6II/s1600-h/scan0001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351346811669733426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 257px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOZXYL0ez5W7FkMaxcZnIMGWthRkHphinxrRD39aEj3CaHhUDDG6tyul6sebL2yM1HLNeZzK7Qu1vAxX2EPtbAnvdr09ErwgVeycGBOwFDeDcRAh_KoOZlMmKInTTmmh2dgB6njpq6II/s400/scan0001.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />In 2005 I became a volunteer at the Ryedale Folk Museum and with the help of Leavening Primary School, we used the above rule to help us make a film about trappy lads going to school. The film can be seen on the <a href="http://www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk/media/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=53">Ryedale Folk Museum website;</a><br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="288" height="192" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fironawecleveland%2Falbumid%2F5351357263226525201%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br /><a href="http://www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk/media/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=53"></p></a><p>Photographs from the film</p>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-31351777762555986852009-06-24T01:50:00.001-07:002014-07-23T07:55:46.747-07:00The AccidentIn 2003 we worked with 20 children from Hummersea Primary School, Loftus and made a film called The Accident, the film was based on one of the stories from the East Cleveland Memories project,about hero "Abe." The film won the Roots and Wings award, the award was presented to us in The Royal Society of Arts building in London by Estelle Morris M.P. Minister for the Arts and by Loyd Grossman.<br />
<a href="http://www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk/media/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=65"><br /></a><br />
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Photos from the film, premiere and the award.john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-36935221705669663962009-06-23T12:45:00.001-07:002009-08-13T06:39:35.636-07:00East Cleveland MemoriesIn 2001 I was one of five volunteers who started an oral history group called East Cleveland Memories. We recorded stories of local people, and with the help of a local museum and a Newcastle based group called Tomorrow's History, we put some of these stories on the Internet. With the help of a printer from the local church, we published 300 hundred books.<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHuM-Bp8Nef_DgjHDiFINK22hTCd4DSX_SBbDyWcZkapzjeSXhEGnU_DYarFYOTkykHxiKBVAeSjXCeTpXOkvtqdBKI62ZY5nIXG1SqNGJXMVE5tchrvGARQfP6sULT1jzy9Vmr8JW7wg/s1600-h/scan.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351718596571433474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 291px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHuM-Bp8Nef_DgjHDiFINK22hTCd4DSX_SBbDyWcZkapzjeSXhEGnU_DYarFYOTkykHxiKBVAeSjXCeTpXOkvtqdBKI62ZY5nIXG1SqNGJXMVE5tchrvGARQfP6sULT1jzy9Vmr8JW7wg/s400/scan.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Hear some of the stories on the <a href="http://www.tomorrows-history.com/projects/PM0100010001/eastclevelandmaincollection1.htm">Tomorrow's History website</a>;<br /></p>john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5314170533283034200.post-21612746948808318272009-06-21T08:03:00.001-07:002013-10-29T06:52:51.928-07:00Demonstration DayIn 1847 ironstone was discovered in Cleveland, and men came to work in the mines from all over Britain. Because of their different accents and cultures many of the men didn't get on, they found it difficult to unite and ask the mine owners for better conditions. In 1872, with the help of Joseph Shepherd, the men started the Cleveland Ironstone Miners Union and held their first Demonstration (gala) day, on the first of May that year. In 2004 a group of volunteers, including 350 children and young people from the Loftus area, made a film about events leading up to, and including the Cleveland ironstone miners first Demonstration Day.<br />
Hummersea - Loftus Juniors - St. Josephs - Whitecliffe - Schools<br />
Freebrough College (Rosecroft) - Banners<br />
Lockwood Primary School - Sword Dancing<br />
Neil Scarth - Ben Moore - Film Makers<br />
Mick Benson - Volunteer Storyteller - Executive Producer<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxa3XKxUvU6pbkk-RoSysHSA283ksw2iuNRcLnulwORuONFsF0IXgFos2RrCOE1ZdtFOEKOe4uCIhTr-uhTsA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
<strong>Eighty photographs and music from the film.</strong><br />
(1) Cleveland Iron By Jez Lowe.<br />
(2) The Lord Is My Shepherd by Cleveland Police Brass Band.<br />
(3) Sixteen Tons by Radical Mass and Frigile Minds.john a. lawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903090816604485817noreply@blogger.com0