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Community Arts Middlesbrough

Community Arts Middlesbrough (CAM) was launched by Paul Hyde and Pete Roberts in 1984 at the Pavilion

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North Ormesby, Middlesbrough. Originally the North Ormesby project, they formed a Community Co-operative in 1984 when their remit began to cover a wider area of Middlesbrough.

They covered a wide range of Community Arts activity, from murals, supporting the music collective and community recording studio – Studio 64, playgroups and much more.

In relation to this literary history, CAM’s initiatives and support and encouragement for Community based writing initiatives was essential to the developments that followed on the Creative Writing Scene (along with others areas such as the Music Collectives). CAM set up the Teesside Writers Workshop (TWW) in 1984, modelled on the Worker Writers Groups in other parts of the North East. The Teesside Writers Group will have its own post on here but was one of the liveliest and most influential groups although not without its problems.

Trev Teasdel, who was running the New Poetry Scene at the Dovecot Arts Centre at the time, announced the launch meeting at the venue. The launch included a visit and performance from the Tyneside Writer Workshop with poet Keith Armstrong guesting. Many of the members of the New Poetry Scene came along to the launch and got involved with the organising committee as will be related in post on the group.

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Launch of Teesside Writers Workshop

Trev had met Pete Roberts at the Media Group in Darlington and was keen to work in Community Arts and became a member of the voluntary management committee of CAM working alongside Pete Roberts with Teesside Writers Workshop. In addition Trev ran writers workshops for the CAM festival and poetry performances for Middlesbrough festival. He also got involved in the Community Newspaper Workshop days, leading workshops.

Through CAM the Teesside Writers Workshop got involved with the annual Write Together sessions in Durham (blogged about separately). This was a gathering of all the Worker Writer Groups in the North East involving workshops / discussions and an evening performance from a guest poet and members of the various groups. Write Together was organised by Keith Armstrong and Doff Pollard in association with the Federation of Worker Writers and North East Community Arts Organisations. 1n 1985 Trev Teasdel proposed the formation of a regional publications group to share print, publishing and distribution resources through out the North East. Trev, Keith Armstrong, Kevin Cadwallander and Clive Rawson (Pete Roberts replacement at CAM) formed the committee for this (more of this in the post on Write Together) and helped organise the last Write Together, this time in the Tees area – Darlington Arts Centre.

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As time went on, CAM was one of the organisations through which Trev

From Outlet 1987

began to develop the writing scene in the mid 80, with CAM having helped Trevor become a WEA (Workers Educational Association) tutor and facilitating the production of Outlet. Working with Cleveland County Education through Eileen Moran, CAM arranged for Trevor to do a series of Writing Workshops for Bookweek in schools in East Middlesbrough in 1989. These and the WEA Creative Writing courses became projects centred around the Outlet project and which helped to develop the Creative Writing Movement which culminated in the annual Write Around Festival which ran 11 years from 1989.

Through Trevor, CAM also assisted Khadim Hussain in the production of an

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Asian magazine – Cleveland Review in 1989, which was a community magazine centred around sport(mostly Cricket) and Creative Writing and organising some of the earliest Mushaira (Urdu poetry symposiums).

CAM therefore played a pivotal role in the development or the Creative Writing Scene between 1984 and 1990 through their own initiatives such as the Teesside Writers Workshop and the Community Newsday Workshops and in supporting and facilitating the wider work of Trev Teasdel and initiatives such as Outlet, Cleveland Review.

Much more of the far-reaching work of Community Arts Middlesbrough can be gleaned from the minutes and other documents that will eventually be attached to this post via Google Docs.

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Paul Hyde giving Portastudio training

Teesside Writers Workshop

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Teesside Writers Workshop (TWW) was one of the most important c 1984 -6. The group was initiated as part of

Launch of Teesside Writers Workshop

Community Arts Middlesbrough (CAM) development plan in 1984 and although the groups most influential period was 84 – 86 after which Outlet and Write Around took off, thanks to Peter Stockill and Jon Miles Longden, the group continued in some form well into the 1990’s, issuing periodic anthologies along the way.

The group was launched April 11th 1984 at the Albert Hotel, Albert Rd in Middlesbrough by Pete Roberts and Paul Hyde of CAM with a performance by the Tyneside Writers Workshop featuring Jingling Geordie poet – and Northern Voices organiser- Keith Armstrong. The Tyneside group were part of the Federation of Worker Writers Groups in the North East,and although Teesside Writers Workshop didn’t formally join the Federation, it was closely allied to them the Write Together (separate post on this). Paul Hyde told me that Stockton library refused to display the leaflet because it had the word ‘pissed off’ in it.

Launch of the Teesside Writers Workshop Flyer 1984

TWW Broadsheet 1984

Originally the group was called Middlesbrough Writers Workshop but the conflicted with the long-standing Middlesbrough Writers Workshop too (although we didn’t know this at the time). The first application for funds to do a Broadsheet in 1984 had the group under the Middlesbrough name. Soon after it became Teesside Writers Workshop.
Middlesbrough Writers Group. The group that had come out of the Teesside Poly Multi Media / Humanities was now calling itself

The first meeting was highly successful attracting between 25 and 30 writers and a group from the audience agreed to meet up to discuss setting up their own group, designed to encourage and support new and old writers, provide stimulus and feedback, develop community publishing and organise performances.

Trev Teasdel, who was running the New Poetry Scene at the Dovecot, announced it at one of the sessions and some of the people involved with the New Poetry Scene (formerly the Castalians) got involved. These included Terry Lawson, Pauline Plummer, Mel McEvoy, Jon Miles Longden, Peter Stockill, Johnny Nichol, Stilletto Pigeonetto, John Quinn. Others came from Andy Croft’s first WEA Creative Writing in Hemlington, including Cath McKenna, Vera Davies, and also Jon Miles Longden and Peter Stockill, Duncan Rowe and Jim Scanlon – there was some interchangeability here. There were also some that had been in the Teesside Polytechnic Multi Media Society (although some of them were in the other groups as well). So there was a feeling both of continuity and renewals. There were many more too and some of the above become part of the organising committee and some became editors of Outlet and Write Around.

The group took a while to get off the ground – early meetings were talking shops but soon a committee and a programme was established and a first publication in the form of a Broadsheet which went out through the libraries free was published as a promoter. Paul Hyde told

CAM worker Pete Roberts (later Clive Rawson) and Trev Teasdel who was on the committee but also on the CAM management committee supported the group in terms of resources and development. The committee was chaired by humourist Johnny Nichol with Jon Miles Longden, Peter Stockill and Trev Teasdel. Andy Croft was a member too although he got to few meetings owing to teaching Literature most evenings.

As TWW got more organised, Trev Teasdel gave up the New Poetry Scene (numbers were falling off by then) and threw his weight behind TWW, helping them to develop a lively programme.

A cyclic monthly programme was established consisting of –

Presentation Night – two members of the group were invited to talk about their writing for 15 minutes. This included inspirations, methods and techniques used, approaches and difficulties with examples of their work (they could hand out sheets of the examples). This proved very illuminating and enabled writers to reappraise their work in light of the group discussion that followed. The rest of the session would be open to informal readings and discussions.

POTLUCK – The second type of session consisted of members bringing in a piece of work for discussion. They would bring in legible written / typed copies and put them on the table or ‘Pot’. Everyone would read them and add their responses /criticisms. These were then read and discussed by the members.

VISITS AND PERFORMANCES – The session in the cycle involved group visits (via a minibus fromCommunity Transport in North Ormsby) to other Worker Writer groups eg Horden, Durham, Tyneside groups.Sometimes they would come down to Teesside to perform. Readings were also organised via the National Poetry Secretariat – eg poet Pete Morgan (who was a writer in residence in the area t the time) and Ken Smith and Sean O’Brian. Caroline Fitzgerald (A local poet who had worked as a Doctor in a South African Township) was another guest. Attila the Stockbroker (in conjunction with Middlesbrough Music Collective at St Mary’s Centre was another. Other visits included a visit from members of Centreprise in London – the community publishing cooperative.

PUBLICATIONS

1984 – On Our Way – Double sided Broadsheet – put out free through Middlesbrough library system as a promoter of the new group. Funded by Middlesbrough Leisure and Libraries Dept.

1986 – Teesside Writers Workshop Anthology – A full anthology funded by The Julian Melchette Trust and the Leisure Dept of the Cleveland County Council.

1989 – A Series of 8 Workshop booklets by group members for sale as part of the first Write Around Festival in 1989

The following Workshop Booklets were issued in 1989 -featuring the following writers –

1. Alan Watkiss and Mel McEvoy

2 John Harrison and Pauline Plummer

3 Andy Croft and Terry Lawson

4 Jerry Slater and Richard Verrill

5 Stories by William Allen

6 Poems by Jon Miles Longden

7 Stories for Children by Albert Mett

8 Aspects of the 60’s – Peter Stockill

The group also produced a number of Poetry posters for subsequent Write Arounds.

1995 – More Workshop Booklets produced by Peter Stockill (who kept the group going in some form until about 2000)

9 Human Nature – Alan Watkiss

10 Taking Stockill – Peter Stockill

11 Icarus and Me – Edwina Richardson

12 Laughing Stockill – Peter Stockill (1999)

Peter Stockill produced a series of his snippets in booklet form around this time.

1996

Now We Are 10 – Produced by Peter Stockill – Ten years of the Teesside Writers Workshop Anthology

1997

Wordshop – Produced by Peter Stockill as part of the Merlin’s Cauldron Writers and Arts Festival

1998

Wordshop 2 – Produced by Peter Stockill.

TWW Anthology 1985 – 1st book anthology.

1 of a series of booklets released by TWW for the 1st Write Fest 1989

COMMITTEE

The early group c 1984-6 had an elected committee which also liaised with and received support fromJon Miles Longden / Johnny Nichol / Peter Stockill / Trev Teasdel / Pete Roberts (CAM Worker) – later Clive Rawson.

Teesside Writers Workshop after the split c1990
includes Trev Teasdel, Margaret Weir, Vera Davies, Cath McKenna
Peter Stockill, Alan Thez, Jerry Slater, Pauline Plummer (back)

Community Arts Middlesbrough until 1986. The committee was

In the 90’s the group was was continued by Peter Stockill and Alan Watkiss.

WIDER INVOLVEMENT

Both in terms of its individual members and the group itself, there was a wide involvement in other groups and projects both before,during and after the initial period of the Teesside Writers Workshop.

Before – members had been involved with The Castalians, New Poetry Scene, Thornaby Pavilion Poets, Teesside Poly Multi Media Society and much more.

During the classic period – the group was involved with the support and other events of Community Arts Middlesbrough

TWW in the mid 90’s

and some of the Writer in Residence projects with Bob Pegg, Pete Morgan and Kathleen McCreery.

An important involvement 1984 – 86 was with Write Together (blogged about separately). This was an initiative of Northern Voices (Keith Armstrong) and the various North East Community Arts organisation represented by Doff Pollard and the Federation of Writer Worker Groups. Each year groups from the North East (including Edinburgh) and Cleveland groups would meet together at Castle Chare Arts Centre in Durham (and in 1986 – Darlington Arts Centre) for a day workshops / discussion / performances and networking.

Cleveland groups represented there were Village Voices (Skinningrove / Middlesbrough Writers Group / Teesside Writers Group).

Both Pete Roberts and Later Clive Rawson from Community Arts Middlesbrough were involved with it and supported TWW through it. Trev Teasdel and Clive Rawson initiated a Write Together Regional Publications group within Write Together (which in turn led them to focus on developing Cleveland Writing through Outlet and Write Around owing to the low opinion of the areas Writers in the Northern Region and lack of funding resources for local writing). Trev and Clivce were also part of the organising committee in 1986 when Write Together was held locally at Darlington Arts Centre. Write Together enabled TWW to arrange exchange performances with a number of groups in the North East included a groups at Horden, Durham and Newcastle.

OUTLET AND WRITE AROUND

Outlet magazine was the idea of Trev Teasdel initially who had explored various options of funding it. In 1985 Trev discussed the idea with Terry Lawson in a mini bus returning with TWW from a performance night in Newcastle. The pair had also discussed the idea for a Cleveland Writing festival – with Terry wanting a poetry fest involving some of the poets who had tutored at The Arvon Foundation. Trev, who was involved with Community Arts Middlesbrough, wanted to develop a community based writers festival in Cleveland to develop and celebrate Cleveland writing perhaps with a few name writers and poets doing readings and workshops. The two combined

TWW Flyer

their ideas and thinking and presented them to TWW and CAM. In the end Trev and Terry didn’t peruse the ideas through TWW because at the time there was conflict in the group around the editing of the anthology and they didn’t feel the situation was right. Instead the ideas got developed through a splinter group Write Now that came out of Trev Teasdel’s first WEA Creative Writing Course.

On the other hand, after TWW split into two groups and both Outlet and Write Around developed, TWW was very much involved in both in various ways.

Later in 1987 Trev Teasdel created another festival – Merlin’s Cauldron Writers and Arts Festival and TWW, through Peter Stockill got very involved with that.

CONFLICT

In 1986 the group split in two. The group was initiated by Community Arts Middlesbrough to support isolated working class writers and build their skills and confidence. The had also attracted writers that were already confident and organised. Some of the less confident ones and most of the women in the group felt that they needed more confidence building and workshop elements rather than criticism.

CAM worker Pete Roberts and Trev Teasdel came up with a number of approaches to solve the differences in the group. They tried holding separate workshop meetings in between and even proposed a modular arrangement with the main group meeting as usual on a monthly bases but having an number of interest group meetings in between. These would be around Dram writing / Poetry/short story and novel writing and workshop sand performance skill sessions. It This seemed a a great proposal but was rejected by the TWW committee.In the end, to solve the problems Pete Roberts proposed that CAM set up a WEA Creative Writing Course and asked Trev Teasdel to tutor it. This was Trev’s first Creative Writing course in the area (and the first of many over a fifteen year period). The 6 week course was held in January 1986 at the Albert Hotel in Middlesbrough (where the group met) and attracted current and former members of TWW as well as being open to new students via a press release.

20 students joined the course and as a result a new workshop group was formed called WRITE NOW and from that group OUTLET Magazine was finally launched.

Some of Write Now continued to be involved with TWW as well and both groups continued for awhile. More on Write Now in another post.

Peter Stockill, Johnny Nichol, Alan Watkiss, Jerry Slater in the 1990’s

Teesside Writers Workshop continued to about 2000 thanks to the work of Peter Stockill who continued to hold meeting in his flat at Berwick Hills, continued to be involved with Write Around and Merlin’s Cauldron and produce periodic anthologies with help from Middlesbrough poet Alan Watkiss.

Community Arts Middlesbrough sheet for TWW 1985

In the 1990’s Peter Stockill kept TWW going with a series of booklets and soirees. This one marked 10 years.

Community Arts Middlesbrough sheet for the 1st Anthology 1985

John Miles Longden’s Book published by Mudfog 1995 and launched posthumously by Write Around.

One of the Wordshop series produced by Peter Stockill and Alan Watkiss for TWW in the 1990’s

Bob Pegg and Pete Morgan – Cleveland Writers in Residence

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From the early 1980’s, thanks to the work of Gordon Hodgeon and relevant arts and educational institution, a number of strategic Writer in residences were established in the Tees Valley / Cleveland area.

These were the two earliest residencies.

BOB PEGG –

Writer in Residence in Cleveland, based at the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton on Tees – 1983 – 1985

Bob Pegg was a leading folklorist, songwriter with a band called Mr Fox who toured with the Strawbs. In his own words

“ In 1983 I was appointed Writer in Residence in Cleveland for two years, taking workshops, running a songwriting project for schools, editing two anthologies of writing from the County, and organising the first Cleveland Literature Festival. It was during this time that my song-narrative The Shipbuilder was staged on a beach by Taffy Thomas’ Charivari at Whitby Folk Festival for an audience of over 2000 people, and repeated later in Leith.“

Bob Pegg’s background was

” When I left Leeds University in 1969 I had a degree in English Literature, and training as a

folklorist. I’d been lucky enough to do my fieldwork in the Yorkshire Dales, with fiddlers and squeezebox players, and it had given a lot of inspiration to the work that Carole Pegg and I were doing in folk clubs. In 1970, we formed the folk-rock band Mr Fox. We wrote most of the songs, but the line-up was based upon the instrumentation of the Dales village bands: fiddle, melodeon, harmonium, clarinet and cello (plus drums and bass). The two albums we recorded were well-received by the music press; the first, Mr Fox, was Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year. They were raw and full of energy and still stand up well on the Sanctuary CD reissue.”

Read more of his work and background here –

I had seen Bob Pegg play with his band Mr Fox in the early 70’s with the Strawbs at the Lanchester Arts

Mr Fox

Festival in Coventry. Ironically Dave Cousins of the Strawbs was programme Controller for Radio Tees – also then based in Dovecot Street, Stockton. (Perhaps it was Dave Cousins who recommended him to the Dovecot).

The work we were doing with the Castalians / New Poetry and the Poly Multi Media Society and Ann Wainwright’s Poetic Licence magazine worked separately from the official residences although some of the contributors attended both ours and Bob’s events / publications. However there were no formal links back then between mainstream provision and the grassroots movement headed by Ann Wainwright and Trev Teasdel and associates in the early 80’s. Trev Teasdel Bob Pegg at the Dovecot Arts Centre Literary Festival for a brief chat but no scope was seen for mutual works except that we passed Bob’s publicity on to our members / contributors and possibly vice versa. Mainstream and grassroots didn’t mix formally until Write Around was established in 1989 – or in the lead up to it.

did meet up with

Although our Write Around was claimed as the first Cleveland Literary Festival, actually Bob Pegg has that claim. The two festivals were quite different. Bob Pegg’s festival was “a short 3 day festival..which packed as varied a programme of events as could be wished into its span. Something (nearly) for everyone).” As the Dovecot Programme announced in November 1984 –

The programme kicked off with Another Side of Bob Godfrey (film animations) and then Liverpool poet Brian Patten, Nick Toczek, Seething Wells, Beasties (Bob Pegg and Julie Fullerton) and local poet Gerry Moran.

I caught the performance of Brian Patten, spoke to Bob Pegg about the New Poetry Scene Events at the Dovecot and gave out a small poetry magazine (one of the forerunners of Outlet) at the event called Streetclean. It was only a taster but evolved into Outlet a little while later.

Another link between Bob Pegg’s work and ours was with the Teesside Poly Writers Workshop. A small Multi Media Society, some of whom, like myself, were on the BA Humanities degree course. English lecturer John Carthew (also on the board of the Dovecot Arts Centre) facilitated a writers group at the Poly,incorporated some Creative Writing modules into the English degree and linked up with Bob Pegg who mentored

Advert from Outlet Magazine

group of writers from the

Over the Border

the group during his residency. This was quite a lively group and after Bob Pegg’s residency finished, a new intake of students continued the group – Mark Rutter and Richard Briddon (blogged about here..). Under the enterprise of Richard Briddon and Mark Rutter the group went on to produce the anthology Over the Border in 1989 and in 1986 were involved in organising the Writing competition Entertaining Hope which raised money for charity. Richard Briddon eventually joined us on the editorial board of Outlet and Write Around committee before initiating Paranoia Press.

Towards the end of the residency, Bob Pegg produced two fine anthologies, one for adult writers and one based around his work in Cleveland Schools – Crossing the T’s and Dotting the I’s. The residency ended with Bob Pegg and Julie Fullerton doing a tour of the Cleveland area with both their own performances and some of the writers who had been published in the anthologies.

Pete Morgan

Was Writer in Residence twice between 1984 and 1985. Gordon Hodgeon was instrumental again in

making this happen. This was another important residency in the literary history of the area. My knowledge

of the residencies are sketchy however, as there was no formal links still between the mainstream and grassroots literary developments, However I do remember that Pete held ‘poetic surgeries’ in libraries such as North Ormsby and Redcar libraries, along with possibly others. I suspect he also held workshops in various schools in the area. Various poets and writers we worked with went along to these surgeries which they found found very useful but other than that I have no details. However I did book Pete Morgan (via the National Poetry Secretariat) to do a reading for the Teesside Writers’ Workshop at the Albert Hotel, Middlesbrough in 1984. The Reading was well attended for this important poet. Here are some background details to Pete Morgan –

” Pete Morgan, a Lancastrian by birth and Yorkshireman by adoption, is a professional poet. In 1971 he returned to the North of England, to live and work in the Yorkshire fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay. In the same year a selection of his work was published in London by Faber & Faber. His first full-length collection, ‘The Grey Mare Being The Better Steed’, appeared from Secker & Warburg in 1973. This was followed by ‘The Spring Collection’ (1979), ‘One Greek Alphabet’ (1980). Morgan’s most recent collection of poems, ‘A Winter Visitor’, celebrated the Robin Hood’s Bay area of North Yorkshire and was hailed by The Observer as ‘something of a triumph… the rhythmical energy is a delight, but much else derives from the spare Northern realism which Morgan sets down so accurately.’

Read more here http://www.theshed.co.uk/petemorgan.html

Al Stewart (lyrics Pete Morgan) – My Enemies Have Sweet Voices

Cleveland Literary Society

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Not quite a Writers’ Group but a Literary Society. Launched in the very early 1980’s by Su Reid and others from the Humanities Dept. of Teesside Polytehnic.

As Rebecca O’Rourke has noted in Written in the Margins (Download the pdf of this research document into Creative Writing and Education in the Tees Valley)

“while based there it attracted students and had a more critical edge.” By 1984/5 it had moved to the Leeds University Adult Education Centre, Harrow Rd. Middlesbrough, where it added readings to the critical work, and was chaired by Andy Croft. They met on the second Tuesday of the month, eight meeting were held a year to hear speakers and engage in debate about different aspects of our literary culture.”

In the first edition of Outlet Autumn 1986 on the information insert “Alternative Entertainment – Songs,poems by Adrian Mitchell,Caberet,Leeds University Centre,Harrow Rd.,Middlesbrough – Cleveland Literary Society. Tues 2nd Dec 7,30pm”

By 1988/9 it was relaunched by Andy Croft as Poetry Live and was entirely readings based. More on Poetry Live in another post. Poetry Live was followed by Crossing the T’s at Sam’s Place, Linthorpe Rd Middlesbrough organised by Andy Croft and Gordon Hodgeon in 2006

East Cleveland Women Live

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EAST CLEVELAND WOMEN LIVE

Started

1982 to 1986

Founded by

Doff Pollard (Community Arts Worker) for the newly formed Village Arts in Loftus and Jean Forrest (dialect poet from Skinningrove).

Based

In Skinningrove and supported by Village Arts.

Description of the Group
I don’t have all the details, but the project began in 1982 in Skinningrove and involved a Women’s Women’s Live but also involved men from the village! Not clear if that was a separate component though. Being a community Arts project it focused on working class writers affected by unemployment and the decline of the industrial village of Skinningorve formerly known for its ironstone mining and steel industry. The group took part in the annual and regional Community Arts Write Together Meetings at Castle Chare in Durham organised by Keith Armstrong and Doff Pollard. (See post on Write Together. Basically it brought together all the worker-writer groups in the Northern Region for a day of workshops and readings and led to exchange readings between groups throughout the year.
group
called

Publications
Two publications – one in 1982 called Village Voices of which Jean Forrest says “We didn’t sit in judgement on the contributions or estimate them in terms of their literary values. People, we feel have the right to express themselves intheir own way and we enjoy opening opportunities for their writings to be read by others.”

The second publication was called The East Cleveland Way in 1984. This was initiated by Jean Forrest’s challenging little jingle which was the centrepiece of a leaflet distributed by the Women Live group all over East Cleveland in 1983 to encourage people to express their feelings about living in a high unemployment area. The booklet was a collections of the poems, stories and drawings they received.

TV – During this period Channel Four / Broadside Films made a TV programme about the group and the anthology focusing unemployment in the area (Loftus (although a small place) had the highest unemployment rate inthe country at the time and there were issues around the redevelopment of the industrial village of Skinningrove). Viewers responded to the poems on unemployment etc via letters.

The anthology sasy on the TV “While we were preparing our little booklet we were approached by the production team of an all-female current affairs film company called Broadside Films, which had a regular spot on Channel Four.They wanted to use our activities as a focal point for a film about unemployment in East Cleveland. The resulting film _ Message From Skinningrove, was screened in 1983, soon after the general election.It provoked responses from people living all over the country, several who sent us poems”

The East Cleveland Way will be on here soon as a PDF file.

People Involved in the anthology / group

Doff Pollard (Village Arts worker), Jean Forrest (appeared in the Channel Four Film and in the later Outlet BBC2 Open Space programme about Outlet and Write Around), Glady Thompson (later published in Outlet), Brian Bulmer, Bill Buckley, Sue Penney, Eric Hibbing (Journalist), Denny Tuffery, Martin Richardson, Teresa Smith, HM Hedley, Janine Hudson, Kilroy wuz here!, Karrol and Mandi, Ann Marie Shelley, Stephanie Beckwith, Andrew Scott, Leslie Garrett, Hazel Mulgrew, LA Barraclough, Ida Gale, Nina Hibbin, John Smith, Robert Simpson, Howard Pearson, Ada Fox, Jeanette Parkin, Christopher Jacklin, Lorna Price,Stella, Tony Howson, GW Skaife, Paul Piert, Suzanne Pearson, Angela Pountain, Jackie Wright, Ruth Easton,Mandi Zagovic, Paula Snowdon, David Gale, Dawn Sidmore, Danny Price, Tracy Readman

Whitby Writers Group

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WHITBY WRITERS

Whitby Workshop

Formed / Ended

May 1984 to 1994

Founded by

Daphne Wright

Meeting Place

Various members’ houses or rooms in pubs

Description

Manuscript nights, in situ writing, very occasionally a visiting speaker, events and venue eg in 1988 the group organised a one-day workshop at Grape Lane Community Centre in Whitby with Terry Lawson on ‘Poetry and its Oral Presentation’ and Brenda Whitelock on articles and magazine fillers.

They also took part in the Cleveland Write Around festival – as part of the Skelton Library joint poetry readings with Brotton, Redcar and Loftus writers and in Whitby.

Publications

3 Anthologies – 2 in the 80’s and one in 94 to finish the group. (Copy of one of the anthologies will be on

Whitby Writers Anthology

here soon as a PDF file.)

Finance

Annual subs.

Members Include Brenda Whitelock (Published writer and Broadcaster), Terry Lawson (co editor of Outlet / Co Founder of Write Around), Daphne Wright, Carol Brownlow

Stockton Women’s Writers Group

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STOCKTON WOMEN’S WRITING GROUP

Formed

Possibly in the late 70’s, going through the 80’s and finished (I think) mid 90’s.

Founded by

By Mary Cooper (Stockton WEA tutor Organiser) based at 75, Hartington Rd. Stockton.

Description

I think this worked both as a course and an informal women’s writers group, which was popular over a long

period of time, advertised in Poetic Licence in 1982. The group / course came highly recommended by many of the women I knew in the 1980’s. The group ended when Mary Cooper retired. I believe she continued in adult education organising the The University of the Third Age in Stockton.

Publications

Eve’s Pudding

There were some more but this is the only one I have information about – Eve’s Pudding – advertised in Outlet 3 on a fly sheet.

Guisborough Poetry Group

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GUISBOROUGH POETRY GROUP

Launched / Ended

No idea when this group began but they were certainly operating in 1984 and 1985. The group folded when one of their main organisers – Laurie Rhodes moved out of the area in (I think) early 1986.

Founding members

No details on this except that Laurie Rhodes and Councillor Dennis Puncheon where the main organisers as I recall. Other members included Terry Lawson (who became a co-founder of Outlet), Sue Penny, Possibly Tim Beswick

Meeting Place

Guisborough Library

Description of Group / Main Activities

Again not many details available but certainly it was a poetry workshop group.

Publications / Performances

No publications that I know of but the group did performances. They performed at The New Poetry Scene, Dovecot Arts Centre, Stockton 1984 / 5 and Poems and Pints – Tocketts Mill – Guisborough 16th November for Cleveland Peace Artists (CND) which some members (Laurie Rhodes) were involved with. See separate post on the Cleveland Peace Artists and the Poems and Pints Night.

Links to other groups and activities

As already mentioned the group (or some of them) were involved in some way with the Cleveland Peace Artists and were regulars at the New Poetry Scene in Stockton in it’s latter days. Terry Lawson became a leadinglight onthe subsequent writing scene in Clevealnd with Trev Teasedel and others – especially Teesside Writers Workshop, Write Now, Outlet, Write Around and eventually became a Leeds University Adult Education Creative Writing Tutor in Loftus.

TEESSIDE POLYTECH WRITERS GROUP /Middlesbrough Writers Workshop

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TEESSIDE POLYTECH WRITERS GROUP /Middlesbrough Writers Workshop

Launched

1983 – after development through various intakes of students to Middlesbrough Writers’ Workshop, finally ended about 1994 / 5 (I think) – maybe a bit later.

Description

The group originally formed out of the Multi-Media Society Poetry and Music Workshop at Teesside Poly in 1983 run initially by Trev Teasdel , Dave Wood, and Amelia Ward as an offshoot. Some of the members wanted a writing for the page group as well as the performance orientated group and linked up with Humanities Department English Lecturer John Carthew. John was a drama critic for Radio Tees at the time and on the board of the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton. The group met in the Humanities department and John arranged for some creative writing elements to be included in the English Literature programme. Shortly afterwards – through the work of Gordon Hodgeon, the Folk singer and poet (from Mr Fox) – Bob Pegg was engaged as a writer in Residence at The Dovecot Arts Centre for two years and during that time worked with the Polytechnic writers as a part of his remit.

By 1986 a new intake of students carried the group on, especially Richard Briddon and Mark Rutter. Richard set up a competition – Entertaining Hope and with Mark Rutter organised the and developed the group at the Polytechnic. By 1989 they had produced their first anthology Over the Border and after Richard graduated began to meet at Richard’s House at 35, Percy St. Middlesbrough.

Early members included – John Quinn (a Lakeside performance poet from the Multi-Media Society), Dave Wood (Singer songwriter and Co-founder of the Multi-Media Society), Ann Atkinson, Gwen Major, Gerry Moran, Kay Castle, Vera Davies, Pauline Thompson, Paul o’Neill, Mike Shepard, Ann Pyke, Fiona Richards, Melanie Davies, John Carthew, Bob Pegg, Adrian O’Tool,

Later Members from1986 included –

Richard Briddon, Mark Rutter, AnnMarie Hopper, Mark Hadlett, Tanya Bentham, Sarah Haddlett, Adrian Sanderson, Barbara Coulson, Chris Pickett, Glen Darlow, Irene McDonald, Janet Le Huquet, Julie Hadlett, Keith Pickett, Michael Spencer, Patricia Stamp, Peter Curry, Steve Harrison, Stan Wells, Sandra Thompson and from 1989 Trev Teasdel and Margaret Weir.

Although the group was originally an offshoot of the Multi Media Society at the Polytech which Trevor co-ran, he never joined in the group meetings in the early days owing to other commitments but after inviting Richard Briddon to join the Outlet and Write Around committees, joined the Middlesbrough Writers Workshop for a short while.

Richard Briddon had been editor of The Mind’s I in Bath prior to coming to Teesside Poly and as well as Outlet as a Co-editor, Write Around and from there formed the Paranoia Press in 1990
organising the NSPCC Children’s poetry competition in 1986 on Teesside, went on to become involved in

Publications

Some early members of the group were published in Bob Pegg’s anthology Crossing the T’S in 1985 and Richard Briddon produced the 1989 anthology Over the Border.

Richard Briddon’s Preface to Over the Border tells us more about the group –

“When as a first year undergraduate (1986) at Teesside Poly I first encountered the writers Workshop; they

seemed a rather cliquey lot at the time, almost all being Poly students, though with a nice range of age and experience. At the time they were suffering from the loss of their titular leader, Bob Pegg, and were expecting John Carthew, as a senior lecturer at the poly..to take his place. John didn’t want it to become the John Carthew show and so the next longest surviving member Mark Rutter filled the vacuum. Once off the ground that academic year’s workshop proved so successful that it lasted half into the next academic year, even though John and I were the only writers who hadn’t finished with the Poly altogether, and though some, like Mark had to commute from their new lives in different places just to be there.

There were two workshops running in parallel which were totally different. No publication was published during those two years as things were too hectic but the 1989 anthology contained examples of work from 1986 through to 1989.”

The anthology is to come to this as a PDF file soon.

VILLAGE ARTS & CLEVELAND ARTS

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Village Arts was a community organisation of charitable status, which was founded in 1981 to promote and

develop the arts in the rural villages of East Cleveland. Based at Stable House, Loftus.

Established by Community artist Doff Pollard and Lorna Price, Village Arts were instrumental in developing community arts festivals in East Cleveland villages such as Skinningrove and in initiating Village Verses (1982), East Cleveland Women Live ( 1983) writing projects in Skinningrove are in the early 80’s resulting in a TV programme for Channel four Broadside production.

Doff Pollard was also involved in the Write Together project with Keith Armstrong, bringing together the North East Community Arts organisations and Worker Writer groups together.More on that in a separate post.

Village Arts continued to be an important Community Arts force in East Cleveland for over thirty years and later around 2000 performance poet Val McGee (aka Maggie McGee) worked for them.

CLEVELAND ARTS

Cleveland Arts was established in 1982 as an independent arts organisation which was supported by Cleveland Music Festival and also presented specific arts events, usually in partnership with others in the county. In 1982 the director was Dennis Coe.
Northern Arts and Cleveland County Council. It’s main task was to assist in the development of new and existing arts activities in Cleveland, in association with local authorities and other arts organisations and local groups. It provided advice and support in all the major arts forms, cooperated in a variety of county wide arts activities such as the

In 2000 Cleveland Arts was re-branded Tees Valley Arts and focussed more on Arts and Education owing to changes in local authority arts development policies.

Cleveland Arts played a major role in the Creative Writing and Literature scene from 1987 when Trev Teasdel and Terry Lawson decided to take the work of Outlet Magazine forward and create a community based, Cleveland wide Literature festival that eventually became known as Write Around. Trev and Terry were busy with Outlet, tutoring courses and other work and called on Cleveland Arts to help develop ideas and achieve funding for the festival. Outlet brought representatives from the areas writers groups and other contacts from Hartlepool to Whitby and Cleveland brought the Representatives from Arts organisations, local authority and the Libraries and leisure around the table for two years of negotiations before the first Write Around was launched in 1989.

Write Around continued annually for 11 years, mostly thanks to the continued work of Andy Croft. Meanwhile Multicultural Officer Neelam Dhamrait (who was an enormous support during early Write Around) engaged an Asian Writer in residence around 1989.

Developments around Write Around led to the establishment of an Official Literature Development Officer in the early 90’s – Mark Robinson, a Poet and editor himself who rose to become Director of Cleveland Arts and then for Arts Council North East. Andy Croft and Mark Robinson formed Buzzwords through the Cleveland Arts Literature programme in the mid to late 90’s with Bob Beagrie as the Literature Development worker.

Cleveland Arts and Tees Valley Arts has continued their literature work through organisations like Creative Partnerships, developing writer in residencies in schools.