GRAWL!X and Umbilica
Performances at 1.00pm & 2.35pm
Guitar & Vocals

A songwriting collaboration between music artists GRAWL!X and UMBILICA in response to the Derwent Valley’s industrial heritage.
The duo will perform a new collection of songs exploring the story of the North Mill and its impact on both local and global society, then and now. These story songs aim to raise the questions: What has been the lasting legacy of industrialism? Where did the raw materials come from? And did the industrialists change things for better or worse?

GRAWL!X is the project of multi-instrumentalist James Michael Machin. Since forming in 2014, his band has performed in unusual venues including several churches, galleries and one of the oldest railway workshops High Peak Junction. He recently released his third album ‘Appendix’ on Reckless Yes Records.

UMBILICA is the songs and poetry of Josephine Lewis. Drawing on folk, rock, blues and literary influences, her songcraft explores themes of social politics and connectedness. Lewis is a co-founder of the female-led performance night She Speaks UK and also leads songwriting and noise-making workshops.

Debjani Chatterjee & Charu Asthana
Performances at 1.20pm & 2.55pm
Reading & Dance

Join award-winning writer-storyteller Debjani Chatterjee and dynamic Indian dancer Charu Asthana as they perform an adaptation of a classic Bengali spinning story – the tale of Sukhu and Dukhu, two girls who separately journey down the Derwent Valley in search of cotton. Listen to the tale of their amazing adventures, brought to life in colourful dance improvisation.

Both Debjani and Charu are well experienced in community arts and education; and have also worked in recent years on major heritage projects, focusing on cotton mills in the Derwent Valley and the UK-India cotton connection.

heritagehindusamaj.wordpress.com
globalcottonconnections.wordpress.com

Sarah Hinds
Guitar & Vocals
Performances at 1.35pm & 3.10pm

Sarah is a Belper based singer song-writer who performs songs of love and loss, accompanied by classical and flamenco guitar styles.
Making observations about life, Sarah explores the impact of changes to the natural and historic environment on people’s lives. She is currently collecting material for new songs by gathering local stories in the ‘Bullsmoor Song Project’.

For ‘An afternoon at Strutt House’ she has written three new folk songs based on stories found at Strutt North Mill Museum. The songs will explore lives of ordinary people living in Belper at the time of the Strutt family and the Nailers and how they were impacted by the change from rural to industrial living.

sarahhinds.wordpress.com

Spindrift
Vocals, Guitar & Cello
Performances at 1.50pm & 3.25pn

“This project for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site is a wonderful opportunity for explore song-writing focussing on Belper’s great icon, our mill.”
Spindrift

Spindrift is a duo of Annette Oakes on vocals and guitar and Sarah Newby on Cello. The two formed the band after meeting at various music jam nights in and around Belper and have been playing together for over a year. These two musicians have a unique connection in their music and can reach heartfelt highs and moving depths.

“Annette Oakes’ soulful, sultry vocals and acoustic guitar line up in perfect harmony with the poignant, graceful and grandiose sound of Sarah Newby’s cello” (Nailed, Feb 2019).

She Speaks UK
Poetry
Performances at 2.05pm & 3.40pm

She Speaks UK is a performance space platforming female, trans and non-binary artists.

Performances will include Pippa Nayer, Emerciana Desouza and Aoife O’Connor. Pippa is a poet of the pagan and the painful, the majesty and misery of life. Emerciana is a poet working to explore feminine power & underrepresented narratives. Aoife is an international poet working to share stories about struggles of underrepresented & minority groups.

Together, they look forward to sharing inspired works through their creative collective lens. For ‘An Afternoon at Strutt House’ the performance will respond to North Mill, Derwent Valley’s industrial heritage and it’s pivotal place in history.

Dave Sudbury
Vocals
Performances at 2.35pm & 3.55pm

Dave lives in Belper and is originally from Derby, Dave has written a new song called ‘The Derwent Valley Mills especially for the event. He is best known for writing the song King of Rome, Dave explains:

“In a glass case in Derby Museum there’s a pigeon called The King of Rome. In 1913 it flew from Italy back to its home loft in the West End of Derby. The Old West End used to be the rough side of town and Charlie Hudson, the man who bred The King lived there. I wrote the song because it’s about the kind of place I came from and the people I knew there.”

Fliss Goldsmith
Event Compere

From a very young age Fliss was curious about beautiful Derbyshire and it’s rich heritage. Her late grandfather and grandmother, Colonel Sir Peter and Lady Hilton were great champions of the County and all it has to offer. Fliss spent much of her childhood accompanying them to events that celebrated everything from culture, arts and history to agriculture, horticulture and even sheepdog trials!Fliss has worked as a presenter and writer in beautiful Belper and has been blessed with two wonderful children Erin and Roderick. She is passionate about Derbyshire not just for its past, but for its present and future and is keen to support this in as many ways as possible.

Seiko Kinoshita
Creative weaving activity using laser cut woods, suitable for ages 4 and up
Drop in anytime between 1.00pm and 4.00pm

Japanese textile artist Seiko Kinoshita is currently developing a contemporary textile installation in the basement of Strutt’s North Mill to be presented in Autumn 2019. It will incorporate hundreds of bobbins and a bespoke soundscape playing industrial sounds collected from local and international mills. Seiko will also explore surrounding historical connections including the workers’ housing, local school and church through a creative programme resulting in a community lantern event. At Belper Arts Festival, she will run family friendly activity inspired by Derwent Valley Mill’s heritage where visitors can make on their unique artwork to take home.

seikokinoshita.com

Toni Buckby & The Makory
E-textile Activity
Drop in anytime between 1.00pm & 4.00pm

You are invited to join us in The Makory – Derby Museum’s Mobile Museum of Making – for a drop in workshop where you will have the chance to weave small touch sensitive e-textile pieces using mini frame looms designed by Toni Buckby as part of The Interlace Project. All materials will be provided and the loom is yours to take home.

Toni Buckby is an artist specialising in hand stitched embroidery, with a particular focus on the 16th century technique of Blackwork, as well as working with traditional spinning and weaving techniques, e-textiles, digital fabrication methods, electronics and code. She is currently working on The Interlace Project at the Derby Silk Mill Museum of Making, a four year commission combining the traditional techniques of spinning and weaving with emergent e-textile technologies, open-source design and community-based co-production.

tonibuckby.com
derbymuseums.org  or themakory.com

This free event is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund & Arts Council England as part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Great Place Scheme. Co-ordinated by Beam.

A special thank you to:

Jo Lewis and James Machin, Andy Mayers, George Gunby, James Oldrini, Rosemary Annabel and all the Stutt’s North Mill Museum’s volunteers.