Picture gallery by Pat Jones.
Lynn news story (trending on the Lynn news website!)
"These are songs from a book, doin different it's called
All about Norfolk heroes and heroines bold.
It's on sale over there at that Hanse House stall.
You can buy it at Waterstone's and at Jarrold's.
So we're here doin different as Norfolkers should,
Nor folk in the town singing songs from the wood.
We got Margery Kempe, Walpole, two of his kin;
Bad King John, Nelson, Cod Fishers, Sawtrey of Lynn..."
(The tour song in its final adaptation)
Where Doin different all began - on the last day and 5 years ago when composer Adrian Tebbutt (left) asked me to give him some lyrics about a Norfolk legend. The result was then sung by Roger Partridge (backside shown right!) Also pictured the lady who now sings it and lead singer on Heritage Day, Sharon Clifton.
The minstrel Lynn, lead singer of Waterline.
The Fried Pirates warm up. (and another back view of Jolly Roger)
William Sawtrey of Lynn's life or death issues with the eucharistic bread and wine. Parrish priest of St Margaret's (the parish this Hanse House performance was staged in) and a Lollard martyr he was England's first burned heretic in 1401.
The Ballad of Badass King John, a Lynn Pride rap that went down well with children and adults alike.
Lynn singing about Lynn in Lynn!
Waterline's elegant music and costume perfectly suited to the occasion
Vanessa Wood-Davies (harp) and the minstrel Lynn rest between sets. Melanie Calway and Adrian Tebbutt manage to keep them both standing.
The maestro minstrel Terry Smith
Hullo, that's a bit of added woodwind on The Ballad of Sir Robert Walpole
The composer leads Waterline in the Ballad of Turnip Townshend
It's not all work. Some folk club regulars give their verdict.
"And now - Mr Lynn himself!" I introduce Dr Paul Richards, town historian of Lynn.
All right lads - we knew they weren't really tights!
I introduce the spooky 'Ballad of the Brown lady' - our ghost ballad about Dorothy Walpole, who is said to haunt both Houghton Hall (built by Sir Robert Walpole) and Raynham Hall (built by her husband and, some believe, her murderer Turnip Townshend) (we exonerate him in this ballad and in the spooky folk video we made of this ghost story)
"I rise up like a morning star of love and faith and hope..."
(Great idea of Pat's to photograph the "holy without smoke" of William Sawtrey of Lynn's burning!)
Waterline, doin different at 11 am, 1pm and 3 pm.
The Titanic 21 gig tour goes down singing into the September sunset this Sunday,the last four gigs flagged up and flying in the EDP, The Lynn News (including a page 3) and Lynn's 'Your Local Paper.'
Here's the last one - Lynn News WOW feature here.
Nine new folk ballads telling the long and colourful history of Lynn will be performed in the Blue Room of Hanse House as part of Heritage Day this Sunday.
All have been published by Poppyland publishing in a new
book called 'Doin different - new ballads from the east of England' written by
Sedgeford author and director of the Room at the Hanse theatre company Gareth
Calway
The 'Doin different'
collection has been touring as a musical show since the premiere at
Lynn's Hanse Festival last May - taking in Ely Folk festival, Folk in a Field,
Lynn's Folk in the Town, the King and Queen in Foley St London W1 and the
archaeological dig in Sedgeford- and on Sunday the 21 gig tour ends where it
began - at Hanse House.
Twelve Norfolk-based composers have written for the project,
a score of performers have participated and four new folk bands have been
formed as a result. Three of these folk bands will be on show this Sunday.
One of the aims of the book is to celebrate Norfolk's often
underestimated role in British history and another is to draw attention to
Lynn's amazing contribution to that.
The Fried Pirates will perform ballads about the heroic and
under-sung Cod Fishers of Lynn and the Siege of Lynn in 1643. Lovehearts &
Redwine will offer homages to Lynn's religious pioneers Margery Kempe, who
wrote the first autobiography in English, and William Sawtrey, parish priest of
St Margaret's, the first man to be burned for his beliefs in England. And to not
so Bad King John, who gave the port its first independence from Norwich.
Waterline will sing the praises of Lynn's MP for 40 years - Sir Robert Walpole,
Britain's first prime minister - and of Lynn author Fanny Burney, the mother of
the Jane Austen novel.
Waterline will also take your breath away with an
exquisitely sung ghost ballad about Walpole's sister, the Brown Lady, who is said to haunt Walpole's
magnificent Houghton Hall, and the Fried Pirates will add a stirring shanty
about Nelson, who said Norfolk volunteers were worth two of other men and whose
crews included plenty of Lynn's sea-hardened men.
All three bands perform at 11 pm and 1 pm and will be
introduced at 1pm by Dr Paul Richards, town historian. At 3 pm, Lovehearts &
Redwine and Waterline will perform slightly longer sets from Doin different.
The Fried Pirates will perform a different set at True's yard from 2pm-3.30pm. Admission is free for all
events.
'Doin different - new ballads from the east of
England' (lyrics with musical scores, photographs and historical support) is on
sale at Waterstones, True's Yard, Jarrolds and Hanse House or via
www.poppyland.co.uk. You can find online links to audio and video performances
of songs, scores and extensive historical resources and features at
www.garethcalway.co.uk
The Fried Pirates at True's yard. They will be doin different in the Blue Room of Hanse House at 11am and 1pm
The Fried Pirates at True's yard. They will be doin different in the Blue Room of Hanse House at 11am and 1pm
DONE different. Tour's end and into the sunset!
