the jackie oates trio
perform ‘the lace makers – the lost of art of telling’
Step back in time with Jackie Oates, John Spiers and Mike Cosgrave as they bring to life the lost art of English lace-making through music and narration.
Though now largely a lost tradition, the origins of lace making go back to the 1400s and it had become a significant industry in the UK by Victorian times, with children sometimes being sent to specialist Lace Schools instead of normal schools. Locally to Sidmouth, Lace has been made in Honiton for the past 400 years.
During 2019, Jackie was Artist In Residence at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. There she carried out extensive research into the songs sung by lace making girls in the counties of Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire.
Through this research Jackie discovered the songs were so commonplace that the tunes were never recorded, only the titles and lyrics. The girls would sing to each other whilst making lace – as well as helping them keep rhythm and count during their long hours of work, the songs also served as an outlet from the hardships the girls faced in everyday life. The culmination of the residence was Jackie’s Radio Ballad, The Lace Makers – The Lost Art Of Telling for which she wrote new melodies and matched song words to Victorian Flemish lace-telling tunes.