Cullercoats seafront venues - The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music - Cullercoats Brewery

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Cullercoats seafront venues - The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music - Cullercoats Brewery
‘IRON Press is a phenomenon.
        Very few literary presses of that quality
        have continued in such style and stayed
             true to their roots for so long.’
                    - Melvyn Bragg

The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music
 Cullercoats seafront venues
    June 20th - 23rd 2019
Cullercoats seafront venues - The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music - Cullercoats Brewery
Introduction

Onwards!
And we’re off again - for the fourth IRON Press Festival!
What was planned in 2013 as a one-off celebration
to mark forty years of IRON Press went on to win Best
Event Tyneside in The Journal Culture Awards and has
now become a regular feature round the harbour of
our distinctive seaside village. As far as I know, it’s the
country’s only literary festival built round a small press.

We’re small and that’s how we intend to stay. Non-stop
growth is a naked capitalism philosophy we don’t buy
into. Just as the press itself some years back found its
natural publication level at four or five books a year (a
level it’s remained at), so too the festival is happy to
settle on four days, once every two years.

Nor is our programme a random selection of famous names or celebs-cum-authors
plucked from some national touring list. Festival writers are almost all associated with
the press or the region or often both. We have been delighted to welcome the likes of Ian
McMillan, David Almond and Melvyn Bragg but they all have links to IRON.

You may well never have heard of many of our featured writers. But the over these
festivals the public have slowly come to trust us - the writers are all worth turning up for.
Rather than buying tickets for well-known telly faces, you’re on a journey of discovery.

Thus in 2019, you can have the gently intelligent humour of poet John Robert Brown’s,
new book, Odd Socks, or Jack and Bill & The Fogrunt Amulet, the controversially irreverent
poetry of The Brothers Grime. Try The Bairn, Elaine Whitesides’ beautifully written
evocation of a 1950s Cullercoats upbringing (reprinted for the festival) or a breakfast
lecture by Doctor Joyce Leeson, the widow of South African activist Zola Zembe that
brings the apartheid struggles of South Africa to The Boat Yard.

Try the combustible Tyneside poetic legend, Tom Pickard, or Zephaniah Haddock &
The Stolen Star a brand new commissioned play, written by yours truly and performed
by pupils of Cullercoats Primary School. On the same bill is the intoxicating music of the
famous North Tyneside Steelband. There’s poetry and prose from our two anthologies
inspired by UK islands, powerful verse from persecuted writers world-wide (Voices of
Conscience), plus the launch of This Cullercoats, a new book featuring six working writers
from the village. And on Saturday you can Sing Yer Bloody Head Off! in the good hands of
Cullercoats diva Ruth Lambert.
Cullercoats seafront venues - The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music - Cullercoats Brewery
Try the unique poetry of Katrina Porteous’ book The Wund an’ The Wetter, elegiacally
written in the dialect of North Northumberland fishermen and performed with live
accompaniment on the Northumbrian pipes from Chris Ormston.

There’s also a chance for artists and writers to create new impressions of our small coastal
settlement. Which is not to mention 21 talented musical acts from our area performing
in our third al fresco Festival Fringe taking place on the sea front, seamlessly organised as
usual by Janice & Terry Jones.

Writers wanting to avail themselves of our new IRON Proof Editorial Service can step
inside The IRON House itself for a free consultation. Hands-on events include a workshop
from Harry Venning, creator of the celebrated Clare in the Community series in The
Guardian and on Radio 4 and a memoir writing workshop from The Bairn author, Elaine
Whitesides.

And as ever, after the events, you can relax in the convivial atmosphere of The Festival
Club at The Salt House from 10pm – midnight (free) where some of our fringe musicians
may just turn up to entertain you. Most of the literary events have a musical content too.

For the first time those coming to each event will be
greeted outside the venues by the distinctive sounds of the
Northumbrian pipes played by Whitley Bay musician and IRON
Press writer Christine Goodwin. And don’t forget the popular
Inpress Literary Quiz, hosted by Sophie O’Neill.

Thanks to my fellow brave steering group members, Kitty
Fitzgerald, Terry Jones, Sue Pethybridge, and Dave Shaw
for help and support guiding us through the choppy waters
and to Kyle Morley and Dylan Mortimer for technical
support. Also Dave Turnbull for extra photographic work.
And to all our volunteers who keep you, our audiences always
heading in the right direction. And of course to the village of
Cullercoats itself. The Festival could not work as well as this
anywhere else.                                                     Christine Goodwin

Peter Mortimer
Editor, IRON Press

Front cover photograph, Cullercoats Dawn by Dylan Mortimer
Brochure design Brian Grogan & Peter Mortimer
Cullercoats seafront venues - The Fourth IRON Press Festival of Words and Music - Cullercoats Brewery
Thursday June 20
                 Cullercoats Primary School in
                  ZEPHANIAH
                  HADDOCK &
                  THE STOLEN STAR
                 Cullercoats Crescent Club
                 7.00pm £6.00
                 A Fantasy Adventure by                                                                              ilcliffe
                                                                                                             Libby B
                 Peter Mortimer
                 MUSIC: North Tyneside Steelband
                                                                 We kick off with a
                                                           specially commissioned
                                                                                                           Elliot Fenn
                                                             new play rooted in our
                         Enya Fitzgibbon

                                                             village and performed
                                                            by pupils of Cullercoats
                                                                  Primary School.
                                                             Seeing the 1969 moon
                                                          landing on TV, Cullercoats
                                                           lad Zephaniah Haddock
                                                            is inspired to climb into
                                                                space on a window
                                                             cleaner’s ladder where
                                                             he steals a star. Before
                                                               long the star begins
                                                              to devour everything
                                                                                                               Libby Wake
                                                               around it - including
                                                            the Crescent Club - and
                                                              just who can stop it?
                                                   rson
                                           Lucy Pea         Peter Mortimer’s comic
                                                            fantasy includes music,
                                                           mime, choreography and
                                                                                                                            ff    ta
                                                                 physical theatre.                                       ne Longs
         maker
Josie Bow

                                                                                                                     Gracie An

                                                                                        Artwork from school pupils
             The evening’s opening music comes from North Tyneside Steelband, the region’s finest
             and most exciting young persons musical combo.

                 Members of North Tyneside Steelband

                     Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Friday June 21
                     THE BAIRN
                     7.30pm - The Crescent Club, £7.00
                     A Cullercoats Childhood by
                     Elaine Whitesides
                     MUSIC: The Keelers
                                                Elaine Whitesides
                                                is a Cullercoats born
                                                author now living
                                                in Nottingham.
                                                This vividly written
                                                account of growing
                                                up in Cullercoats,
                                                published by IRON
Elaine Whitesides

                                                Press, is both a
                                                description of a
                                                unique community
                                                and a microcosm
                    of postwar 1950s Britain, an era within many
                    people’s memories, but also seeming strangely
                    distant. The book has been reprinted specially
                    for the festival. Elaine will also run a workshop
                    on memoir writing (see Sunday evening).

                    MUSIC; We are delighted to welcome back our very own sea shanty quartet, The Keelers,
                    locally based but with an international reputation for fantastic harmonies.

                    The Keelers

                                                                    5 Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
                           Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival
Saturday June 22

 THE IRON BREAKFAST
 LECTURE
 9am - The Boat Yard £10
 (includes South African breakfast)
 With Dr. Joyce Leeson and
 MUSIC by Wakanda Charden

Together Against Apartheid
Joyce Leeson is the widow of
Zola Zembe who died last year in
Tynemouth, aged 90. Zola was a South
African freedom fighter and close
colleague of Nelson Mandela with
whom he was imprisoned. For many
years he was a leading member of
the ANC and the South African Trades
Union movement. His wife, Dr Leeson,
was an Anti-Apartheid activist on
academic secondment from Manchester
University when she met him in 1967.
At that time he was a Commander in the
uMkonto we Siswe, the ANC Liberation
Army, on active service in Zambia. Their
life together is the backdrop to Joyce
Leeson’s talk. There will also be extracts
read from Zola’s autobiography, Freedom
in Our Lifetime. Ticket price includes a
South African breakfast.

Dr. Leeson will be in conversation
with Ozzie Riley, artistic director of
Dodgy Clutch Theatre Company.                        Joyce Leeson

                                             LIVE MUSIC from Wakanda Charden,
                                             a political activist from the Congo, at
                                             present living on Tyneside.
                      Wakanda Charden

   Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival 6Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Saturday June 22
 ODD SOCKS – John Robert Brown
 11am RNLI £7.00
 MUSIC: The author will blow a few tunes on his
 beloved saxophone and more music comes from the
 guitarist James Birkett
IRON Press recently published this quirky collection of
comic verse from the Ilkley author John Robert Brown
and we are delighted to bring him to the festival for you
to savour his wit and humour, be he writing about the first
traffic island in Japan, in praise of galoshes, the wonders of
Nuneaton, or a particularly intimate and painful medical
procedure. The book is illustrated by Harry Venning writer
of the hugely popular Radio 4 series Clare in the Community
based on his own cartoon strip in The Guardian. Harry
Venning will be running a workshop in the Fishermen’s
Mission at 1.00pm (see details on next page).

                 Speed
                 Late for the funeral
                 He drove without heed for fate.
                 Took two too many chances;
                 Now he, too, is late.
                 John Robert Brown
                                                                  John Robert Brown

 JACK & BILL AND
 THE FOGRUNT AMULET
 12.30 RNLI £6.00
 The Brothers Grime
 MUSIC: Readers’ Wives, 50 Plus
Newly published by IRON Press, this single long poem,
described as ‘an epic in dubious taste’ emerges after 40
years of joint writing labour from The Brothers Grime
who will be on hand to read extracts from its occasionally
scurrilous content. Set in the fictitious country of Cloudland,
the poem tells of the perils of an over-exposure to
pornography. It sits somewhere between Eskimo Nell and
Geoffrey Chaucer and boasts such characters as Kitty Flaps,
King Wobblyknobble and the dreaded Forty Teat Sow.
Not for the faint-hearted.
MUSIC: Bizarre sounds from Readers’ Wives 50 Plus - sweet
harmony it isn’t.

      Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Saturday June 22
 THE ART OF THE CARTOON
 1pm - 3pm Fishermen’s Mission £10.00
 A Workshop by Harry Venning
Harry Venning is the artist and writer who wrote Clare in
the Community, a major success both in cartoon form in The
Guardian but also as a comedy drama series on BBC Radio 4.
This is a hands-on workshop for those interested in combining
images and text. Workshop limited to twenty people so please
book early:
                                                                    Harry Venning

 SING YER BLOODY HEAD OFF!
 2pm – 6pm Community Centre £10.00
 Ruth Lambert
As our hi-tec world slowly sends itself insane, the distinctly
lo-tec activity of communal singing is increasingly being seen
as the perfect antidote. It frees the soul and allows the spirits
to soar. Try it for yourself - experience this four hour singing
workshop led by the experienced Cullercoats singer and
performer Ruth Lambert. Ruth will nurture the participants
to a high level of choral singing – so much so that for the
final 20 minutes they will perform for whichever members of
the public wish to attend (free of charge) or for themselves if
no-one else turns up. All you need to bring to take part in the
workshop is your voice. Tea, coffee and biscuits available.
The workshop is limited to 20 people, so book early.
                                                                     Ruth Lambert

   Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Saturday June 22
 THIS CULLERCOATS
  2pm RNLI £6.00
  Music: Alan Jones
Six working writers who live in Cullercoats were invited to
contribute to this anthology, each responding in his or her
own way to being a part of the village. The book’s writers are
Carol Clewlow, Kitty Fitzgerald, Harry Gallagher, Peter
Mortimer, Pauline Plummer and Josephine Scott.
An intriguing mix of poetry, fiction and mythology.
One of the region’s most talented singer/song writers
Alan Jones provides his own distinctive sounds. The book
is launched at the festival and five authors will read a short
extract. Special launch event book price: £5.00.

Alan Jones                                         Pauline Plummer        Josephine Scott

 VOICES OF CONSCIENCE
 4pm RNLI £7.00
 Poetry From Oppression
 Colette Bryce, Kate Fox, W. N. Herbert & Sean O’Brien
Our biggest ever book; work from 150 renowned 20th century
poets world-wide, whose writing saw them imprisoned,
persecuted, or executed by the state. Translated from 40
languages, a major publication and possibly the only book to
include the poetry of both Oscar Wilde and Ho Chi Minh. Plus
the likes of Pablo Neruda, Nazim Hikmet and Bertolt Brecht.
Selected and read by four of the region’s best known writers:
Colette Bryce, Kate Fox,W.N. Herbert & Sean O’Brien

Colette Bryce             Kate Fox                  W N Herbert              Sean O’Brien

       Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Saturday June 22
 THE WUND AN’ THE WETTER
 7.30pm St George’s Church £7.00
 Katrina Porteous
 MUSIC: Chris Ormston
Katrina Porteous lives in Beadnell and is one
of the region’s most celebrated poets. Her book,
The Wund an’ The Wetter marks an extraordinary
collaboration between herself and the
Northumbrian piper Chris Ormston and is a single
long poem written in the dialect of the dwindling
fishing community of North Northumberland. It
has Chris’s music accompaniment throughout. The
poem and music were specially commissioned by
IRON Press and the book was soon into its second
print. It includes a CD of the two performing the
237 line poem. It also includes a glossary of almost
200 north Northumberland dialect words and
phrases.
MUSIC: Chris Ormston himself will provide
the live accompaniment.
                                                             Katrina Porteous   Chris Ormston

Sunday June 23

 IRON PROOF TASTER
 10am – Midday The IRON House - FREE
 5 Marden Terrace Cullercoats, NE30 4PD
 Kitty Fitzgerald (prose), Carol Clewlow (prose)
 Peter Mortimer (poetry)
The 2019 festival sees the launch of the new IRON
Proof Editorial Service where for a reasonable
fee authors can submit their prose (short stories,
novels) or poetry collections for in depth critical
appraisal by professional writers associated with
the IRON stable. Book your initial 15mns chat
with one of three of our main assessors. These
initial sessions are FREE but available only with
the purchase of at least one ticket to a paid
festival event. Please book well in advance as
spaces are limited. See the wondrous IRON House
into the bargain.
 No booking fee for this event, but participants need also
 to contact IRON Press on 0191 2531901 to book a specific
 time and editor                                             Carol Clewlow      Kitty Fitzgerald

    Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Sunday June 23
 POSTER POEMS
 11am - FREE
Poets and visual artists are invited to take
part in this short project which will define the
village in words and images. Each participant
on the day will be given a specific Cullercoats

                                                                                                             Jyl Friggens
location and asked to respond to it in either
words or images. IRON Press may publish a
small book from the results, depending on
quality. This is a free event but booking ahead
is essential as numbers are limited. You can
book individually or as a poet/artist team.

                            An example of poet
                            and artist combining
                            is shown here with the
                            work of Mike Wilkin
                            (poet) and Jyl Friggens
                            (artist). These were
                            created as an IRON
                            Press poetry card
                            (1992).

                                                      No booking fee for this event, but participants need also to
                                                      contact IRON Press on 0191-2531901 for more information

 MEMOIR WORKSHOP
 (preparing to write your own memoir)
 Cullercoats Bike & Kayak Centre
 (The Snug) midday - 2pm £6.00
 With Elaine Whitesides - author of The Bairn
Come and sample techniques that enable you to
explore your memories, experience again some
of the episodes and emotions of your past and
record them as scenes that illuminate your life
story. This is how many of our great novels
began to take shape . If you like to write, this
workshop can offer ways of enjoying it even more.
Run by the experienced author and workshop
organiser Elaine Whitesides, who also reads from
her book The Bairn on Friday evening.

      Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Sunday June 23
 A TYNESIDE LITERARY SON
 2pm RNLI £8.00
 Tom Pickard
 Music: Pete Shaw
One of Tyneside’s great contemporary literary sons, Tom
Pickard was not only published with his long poem America in
the first edition of IRON Magazine in 1973, but this first edition
itself was born at the Gateshead flat of Tom and his wife
Connie Pickard, where Peter Mortimer was the attic resident
at the time. Founder, along with Connie, of the legendary
Morden Tower Poetry Centre in Newcastle, much published
poet, erstwhile enfant terrible of the literary world (arrested for
obscenity at the Newcastle Literary Festival and once banned          Tom Pickard

from the North Sea), Pickard remains a controversial and
provocative figure and a fine writer.

MUSIC is provided by Pete Shaw, one of the region’s most
talented and prolific singer/songwriters. For one of the best
music experiences in the region, try Mr.Tighes in Bebside, Blyth
each Sunday where Pete hosts an array of talented artists - and
it’s all free!                                                        Pete Shaw

 ISLAND WRITERS
 4pm – RNLI £6.00
 James Knox Whittet
 MUSIC: Anna Macrae
James Knox Whittet edited for
us two books of writing about
islands, One Hundred Island Poems
and Writers on Islands (prose)          James Knox Whittet
collections which included the likes
of John Betjeman, Virginia Woolf,
George Orwell and W.B.Yeats. Both
books went to a second print. Here
James selects and reads from the
two books and is joined by fellow
authors Kitty Fitzgerald and Carol
Clewlow, plus David Shaw.
                                        Anna Macrae

MUSIC Hebridean songs from the Barra born singer Anna Macrae

   Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Sunday June 23
 THE INPRESS LITERARY QUIZ
 6pm Cullercoats Coffee, £5.00 entry per team
 (maximum 4 people per team)
A great success in 2017, the Inpress quiz is run by Sophie
O’Neill and the staff of Inpress Ltd, who represent IRON Press
(and many other independent publishers) to the trade. It’s a
lot of fun but will also test your knowledge on matters literary,
local, national and international. Bumper bundles of IRON Press
books to be won! Hot food and drink available.
Book early, limited space!

Test Yourself!
Below are photographs of three North East authors (though
one was born north of the border) plus a famous north east
literary location. There is also a well-known actor depicting one
of literature’s great anti-heroes (No. 5). Can you name the actor,
the book (the film has the same title) and the anti-hero. No         Sophie O’Neill
prizes to be won, this is purely for fun!

                      1                                 2                                           3

                                                                                (Pinkie, Brighton Rock)
                                                                               5 Richard Attenborough
                                                                                      4 Morden Tower
                                                                                       3 Jack Common
                                                                                           2 C P Taylor
                                                                                         1 Ann Cleeves

                      4                                  5
                                                                                         ANSWERS

      Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
Sunday June 23
THE FESTIVAL FRINGE Free
Corner of Mast Lane and Beverley Terrace
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 12 noon to 5 pm
Once again, the sounds of live music will echo over the Bay as Terry and Janice Jones
host the alfresco Music Festival Fringe. Located at the seafront corner of Mast Lane and
Beverley Terrace it will feature an eclectic mix of 21 local acts and showcase some of the
finest musicians around. For the third festival running, the event will be hosted by Phil
Mitchell and you can look forward to some fine original music, Blues, Americana and even
a Ukulele Orchestra. It all happens between 12 noon and 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday –
and best of all, it’s totally free!

                                Artists appearing
                                       45 Spread
                                      Neil McBride
                                        Bay Uke
                                   Paul Urbanowicz
                                    Carmen Curran
                                 Pete Shaw & Friends
                                    Clark & Conway
Jacqui Clark                          Ray Rowley            Phil Mitchell
                                           HEK
                                     Renata & Trev
                                 Jonathan Woodward
                                  & Janet Tomlinson
                                     Sarah Holmes
                                   Karl Douthwaite
                                   The Corn Shacks
                                       Larry Page
                                     The Sandboys
                                      Mike Waller
                                   & Alan McCulloch
                                 The Swamphoppers
                                      Muddy Line
Jonathan Woodward                                            Ray Rowley
                                    Tony Bengtsson
                                     Calum Kewen
                                  Sound Equipment :
                                 Jonathan Woodward
                                      Hosting :
                                    Phil Mitchell

   Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
QUICK COLOUR CODE GUIDE TO EVENTS
June 20            Zephaniah Haddock                   7.00pm             Crescent Club                        £6.00
June 20            Festival Club                       10-12pm            Salt House                           FREE
June 21            The Bairn                           7.30pm             Crescent Club                        £7.00
June 21            Festival Club                       10-12pm            Salt House                           FREE
June 22            Festival Lecture                    9am                Boat Yard                            £10.00
June 22            Odd Socks                           11am               RNLI                                 £7.00
June 22            Jack & Bill                         12.30pm            RNLI                                 £6.00
June 22            Harry Venning                       1pm                Fishermen’s Mission.                 £10.00
June 22            Sing Yer Bloody Head Off            2pm-6pm            Community Centre                     £10.00
June 22            This Cullercoats                    2pm                RNLI                                 £6.00
June 22            Voices of Conscience                4pm                RNLI                                 £7.00
June 22            The Wund an’ The Wetter             7.30pm             St.George’s Church                   £8.00
June 22            Festival Club                       10-12pm            Salt House                           FREE
June 23            Poster Poems                        11am               Various                              FREE
June 23            IRON Proof                          10am-midday        IRON House                           FREE
June 23            Memoir Workshop                     12-2pm             Bike & Kayak                         £8.00
June 23            Tom Pickard                         2pm                RNLI                                 £8.00
June 23            Island Writers                      4pm                RNLI                                 £6.00
June 23            Literary Quiz                       6pm                Cullercoats Coffee                   £5.00
June 23            Festival Club                       10-12pm            Salt House                           FREE
No Ticket Source booking fee for Poster Poems and IRON Proof free events (both Sunday)

                                                                 Tickets!
                        © OpenStreetMap contributors
      Fishermen’s
      Mission
                 Bike and Kayak
                     Centre

            Community
            Centre
                                                                 Ticket Source 0333 666 3366
  Cullercoats      Crescent Club                                 www.ticketsource.co.uk/ironpress
  Coffee                                                         Booking fees apply to online and telephone sales
                           RNLI
                                                                 Tickets available from Ticket Source from April 1
          The Boatyard Salt House
 IRON                        Fringe                              Direct from
 House
 Metro 30 mins from
 central Newcastle        Cullercoats                            Direct tickets from May 1, daily, 12noon-2pm

                                                          Once again our very own
   Cullercoats
   Primary School                                       Cullercoats Brewery brings
                                                          out a celebration festival
                                                               beer available at the
                                                       Crescent Club, the Rockcliffe
                                                            Arms, Boda Homes and
                 St George’s                                     other fine venues.

      Don’t Forget 10 till Midnight, the Festival Club at the Salt House, Admission FREE!
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