Confluence

New Folk Ballads

The New Folk Ballads project was run jointly over a period of eight weeks in 1999 by Helen Porter with Tim Laycock, who, while living in Shaftesbury, is active in London and other parts of the country as a respected folk musician and actor. The project was devised to encourage local people from the Stour villages to translate their memories, experiences and feelings connected with the river into ballad form. From the outset the project attracted participants of all ages (12 to 75 years), which allowed for great diversity in the work - from the experience and wisdom of older people to the freshness and vigour of the young members. In Talkative River, the authors of the ballads themselves performed their own work.

To get the project rolling, Tim and Helen ran an afternoon workshop on 25th April at West Stour village hall. During this workshop, Tim demonstrated the folk ballad in a variety of forms, looking at both words and music. Helen lead a singing session, and finally the participants were asked to sketch out an idea for a ballad, not necessarily yet attempting to write verses and tunes, but rather a more general picture, sketching out rough ideas, what caught their imagination about the river, how it connected with their own lives. The rich variety of material produced in this session gave an early hint as to the diversity of the work which would finally be produced.

After the workshop Tim and Helen made appointments to work with people individually. This meant visiting them at the homes, being taken on walks to their favourite spots by the river, or being shown around their workplace. Some people needed help to develop their idea, organize words, or to develop melodies, whilst two participants worked entirely alone, producing finished works. No matter how much help was needed, we were always careful to draw the ideas out of each individual, so that they were able to remain the clear authors and composers of their work.

The whole group came together twice to see how each other's ballads had progressed since the workshop in April, and to rehearse their work. Many of these people had never before sung solo in public, but each of the balladeers, (either sooner or later!) decided that they would like to perform their own song. The presence of a radio interviewer (BBC Radio Solent) and later BBC Television South Today reporter gave them an extra buzz of excitement during these rehearsals.

The project was felt to be extremely successful by all involved. For the people who had written, composed and performed their own work, and felt themselves valued for their knowledge and creativity, this had been a unique and exhilarating experience.

Helen worked with the local Youth Club to write another ballad "The Ballad of the West Stour Pike"

We published a booklet of the Folk Ballads in time for the concert, and made friends with many people who followed and participated in activities for the duration of the project.

Later in 1999, the ballads were performed once more, this time in the relatively informal setting of Gillingham Library.

Everyone who had composed ballads and performed at Buckhorn Weston village hall earlier in the summer was able to attend, with the lively addition of Len Piper and Roger Trevor. The band of musicians who accompanied the ballads was also extended to include the versatile Gillingham violinist Les Jenkinson, who had previously connected with Confluence at the Fish Cabaret in April.

The audience was made up of a great variety of people - some from the villages who had been disappointed to miss the ballads the first time around, some who had read publicity or heard it on the local radio, as well as regulars of Gillingham library. Linda Antell the librarian expressed her pleasure at seeing so many new faces, saying that usually it was the same people who came to evening events.

The evening was attended well beyond expectations, and the audience of fifty and more packed out the small seating area, spilling over into the library itself. They readily joined in with the choruses of the ballads and went away singing.

The ballads have also been performed in local community shows, and so are establishing themselves in the fabric of their places.

We hoped that Len Piper's drinking song Rolling Down the Stour might extend its range during the project, as we wanted to arrange a project encourage local breweries, riverside publicans and their clientele to rise to the challenge of writing their own new verses to celebrate the pubs and beers that are special to them. Unfortunately we didn't have time to develop this idea, though Len has been active in writing new verses to complement the occasions in which the piece has subsequently been performed.

Many good things emerged from the folk ballads work. Margaret Elsworth (The Rolling Bay) felt that working on the project had helped her to become active again. Having nursed her two very elderly parents for years, she had been left feeling exhausted. Margaret commented that working on a composition for the project had literally awakened her, and she had felt more energetic than she had done for several years. Margaret continued with Confluence by coming to the Irresponsible Song workshops in Sturminster Newton. The Rolling Bay was also performed in the culminatory concert of the project The Confluence.

Joan and Henry Haig (An Unknown Stranger and Rivers of Crystal) continued singing and performing, and Roger Trevor, the farmer who composed All Used Up has discovered his love of singing. He joined the Irresponsible Song groups. He says of his experience with Confluence: "It is difficult to know where to start in expressing my feelings on the project. Perhaps it is more than a coincidence that from the start of the Confluence, I now find my self taking singing lessons and a member of two choirs and think and dream music and singing!! I also have entered my farm for the Countryside Stewardship scheme which will have the effect of encouraging wild life especially on the River Stour where we plan to install an otter holt. I feel I have made real friends through Confluence."

The teenage sisters, Natasha and Kathryn Ridgway, who wrote Dancing on the Water have sung this subsequently at other village gatherings, and each time have taught the song to friends who then perform with them. Kathryn later took part in the Legends of the Stream residential. Heather Ridgway, their mother, has also been involved in a number of Confluence projects. The entire family participated in the chorus of Dressing the Stone in Sturminster Newton.

Tim and Helen helped in the creation of a further series of Folk Ballads, this time inspired by the river in winter, as part of the Open The Flood-Gates project in and around Sturminster Newton early in 2000.