
Cream Tees
The project set out with 2 aims:
- To research as far as possible, historic recordings of folk song and dance.
- To establish a youth folk band, with the aim of reviving some of this traditional music in a new generation of musicians
Over an initial 3-year funding period, over 80 songs, tunes and dances were uncovered by researcher Mike Bettison, bringing together for the first time recordings made over a 120 year period by the likes of Ralph Vaughn Williams, Joan Littlewood & Ewan MacColl and Alan Lomax.
During this period, M@HoT’s youth band Cream Tees was established. Led by Neil Diment with support from TCR Hub, Teesdale School, Durham Music Service and Newcastle University’s Folk & Traditional Music department, a fledgling group of young folkies emerged; soon establishing a now legendary fondness for biscuits and an inclusive workshop methodology that championed learning music by ear.
Since then, M@HoT has continued to grow, expanding our delivery of folk arts workshops across Teesdale & Weardale. As well as on-going research and our regular activity with Cream Tees, M@HoT delivers a varied programme of Longsword Dance workshops with local primary & secondary schools, intergenerational Rapper Dance workshops, public music masterclasses with guest tutors, and larger scale public events – like The Ceilidh Project.