This week we caught up with the wonderful Jackie Oates to explore her fascinating new show she’s bringing to Sidmouth this summer…

This year at Sidmouth, you’ll be playing a special evening concert at Manor Pavilion with John Spiers and Mike Cosgrave called The Lace Makers – The Lost Art Of Telling, what can people expect from your show? 

Our show is written and performed in the style of a radio ballad, and so we mix spoken word with songs and tunes, in order to tell a story. I will be narrating the piece, which is set in the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire in the late 1700s! This was a time when hand lace-making was at its most prevalent. Mike plays the part of the poet William Cowper, who often wrote about local lace makers, and John Spiers has a small cameo as a bobbin maker! John is also baking some cattern cakes for the occasion.

How did this particular project come about?

Back in 2018, I was artist in residence at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading as part of an EFDSS project. I was tasked with delivering educational sessions, and creating a piece of music inspired by the museum. The museum happens to be housed in St Andrews Hall, where my mother lived as a student at Reading University in the 1970s. At the time of my residency, my Mum was suffering from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s and I was spending time up in Stafford, hurriedly emptying our family home before I had my second child. Mum was a collector of things, and a lover of crafts, and sadly much of her cherished belongings had to be taken to charity shops. A few months after this, I was looking for inspiration at the museum, and I came across the lace makers collection. I realized that I had given away my Mums lace bobbins, and lace making books just weeks before, not realising what they were. It felt fitting therefore, that I wrote a piece about lace making – as a little tribute to my Mum and the love of textiles that she passed onto me. My Mum would have loved to visit the museum with me, and to feel the resonance of returning to one of the places she held most dear in her memories. I also spent lots of time in Olney, Buckinghamshire, getting to know the history of Bucks point lace, and realising that there was a very vivid world of musical heritage and childhood history that I had never come across before. Oxford professor David Hopkin taught me a lot about the history of lace schools and what an important industry it was in England. He also helped me to realise that there were huge crossovers between lace makers’ tells and lesser-known areas English folk music. Lace makers ‘tells’ are little short songs that were sung by lace makers, as a means to remember complicated patterns of lace making, or to simply pass the time. Many tells have made their way into the nursery rhyme canon.

Why did this area of history stand out to you and have you found any contemporary resonances with the work?

This area stood out to me because I’ve long been aware that there seems to be an absence of women’s ‘waulking’ songs in England, as there is in Scotland and Ireland. I was aware that Cecil Sharp collected many songs from women around Somerset, and that many of these women were glovers, and sang songs whilst performing ‘piece work’. However, the realization that there are large quantities of lace makers ‘tells’ felt significant – as this represents the largest body of womens work songs that we have in England. Exploring the lyrics to these tells is a way to shed light on the lives of women, their standard of living, and the sorts of preoccupations they had. So much of our songs were collected in public places – country fairs, pubs etc, and this is often reflected in the nature of the songs. These female-oriented ‘inward’ songs are often harder to find. However, the tunes were never written down, and we only have lyrics.

This area of history stood out for me, at the time of writing – because I could delve very vividly into the context in which the songs were sung. For example, many children in rural areas around the southern midlands, were sent to lace ‘schools’, where they would learn to make lace alongside normal lessons. Through reading history books about these lace schools, the lyrics of the lace tells within them, were really brought to life. I could visualise what life must have been like for children in these settings. At this point my own little girl Rosie was about to start school, and we would sing nursery rhymes frequently. I think various daydreams formed this radio ballad. A large element was escaping my Mums reality through nostalgia about my own childhood, and memories of those story cassettes we all use to listen to. My present world then was one full of nursery rhymes and singing to my children to pass the time of day. I also wanted to recapture a forgotten era, intermingled with thoughts of decay and decline – through the way in which the lace-making industry reached its end and morphed into a hobby. Finally, I wanted to make amends somehow – to make something tangible out of something that I was trying to navigate.

Do you have any favourite Sidmouth memories from over the years? 

My family have been going to Sidmouth since I was 2 + and I have lots of memories of seeing amazing concerts at the Arena and the Ham marquee, the big dance extravaganzas, and the shooting roots showcase performances at the Manor Pavilion and the Bedford! My dad passed away in 2016, but I always picture him at the session in the Bedford Hotel Bar whenever I’m there. I also vividly remember watching Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts perform one evening at the Arena in 1994 as the sun went down, and begging my Mum for a cassette!

Is there a specific Sidmouth tradition that you always try and do when you’re at the festival? Maybe a swim at a special spot, a walk, a particular meal, a certain pub you find yourself returning to every time you’re back in town? 

Now that we have young children, Sidmouth is a very different experience, but we always look forward to the first fish and chips on the beach, and then going to Taste for ice cream, and watching Great Western Morris dancing in the town square.

With over 750 events running across 8 days, the festival can be a bit daunting for those who haven’t been before. As a Sidmouth veteran, do you have any top (survival!) tips for newcomers to the festival? 

I always try to work out which events I absolutely want to attend, and then plan to take lots of little quiet breaks during the day – by going to cafes with large open spaces and air conditioning, or heading to the Blackmore gardens and finding a shady bit. There are lots of late nights at Sidmouth (even as a parent!) but you find that your body clock adjusts and it’s not until you get home that you feel exhausted!

After a busy summer festival season, what’s next for you? 

I am in the midst of recording vocals for a nursery rhymes album by Nick Hart and so I am looking forward to seeing that project come to life. I am also touring with John Spiers during December, for our annual ‘Midwinters Night’ series of gigs.

Jackie is playing the Manor Pavilion on Sunday 3rd August, 8pm. This show is open to season ticket holders. There might also be tickets available on the door on the night. Season tickets: https://sidmouthfolkfestival.co.uk/tickets/