Cleveland Branch Gallery 2012
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Cleveland Branch Christmas Meeting - 12 Dec 2012, Cedesfeld Hall, sedgefield.
This branch meeting marked the end of a very busy year for the cleveland Branch and closes our gallery for this year. Unfortunately Nancy, who normally cooks a wonderful meal for us at this meeting was poorly, so the Christmas meal had to be cancelled. Jo Jones, our photographer, was not there so we didn't manage to get any photos either. However we still had a great time playing our regular tunes intermingled with a few seasonal tunes and carols. Sylvianne, one of our regular visistors who normally joins us with her concertina, brought 'Shaun the sheep', her Flemish Bagpipes along, and gave us a wonderful rendition of a traditional French tune.
Keep an eye on our diary for news of a re-scheduled 'Christmas Meal'. Thanks must go to the Branch Comittee for all their hard work during the year. Also thanks to the Cleveland Playing group who have put in a lot of work promoting the Northumbrian Smallpipes. As you can see from this gallery they have had a busy year and performed at many interesting and varied events with lots of new venues added to their list. They aleady have some interesting bookings in their diary for next year and look forward another year of great piping.
To anyone interested in the smallpipes and Northumbrian music, if you are in the Sedgefield area on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, do call in and see us at Cedesfeld Hall. You will be made most welcome.
To all in the Northumbrian Pipers' Society, the Cleveland Branch wishes you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and lots of happy piping.
Gates Centre, Durham - 2 December 2012, between 2pm and 4pm
Players (L -R) Margaret Moyes, Dave McQuade, Brian Fisher, Dave Cook and Anne Catchpole (photo by James Carville).
This was the Cleveland Branch's annual event playing Christmas Carols and other tunes at Durham Gates Centre. We have been playing at the Gates Centre ever since the group was first formed by Dave McQuade er ..... a long time ago now. We usually play there on the first or second Sunday of December. Interestingly, all five players here are original members of the group. We were delayed for a couple of minutes when we were questioned by the security patrols. They weren't told that we would be there but Dave Cook convinced them we were there officially. We played continuously for a good hour and a half and we had lots of interest from the shoppers. A few hard core listeners sat and listened for the entire performance. Jo Jones was not playing with us today so no camera was available. However, James Carville was listening to the group and when talking to him later, discovered he had taken this picture on his mobile phone. He kindly sent it to me the same evening by email. We also discovered he was a past member of the Pipers Society and still owned a set of pipes albeit without a working chanter reed. Dave McQuade supplied him with a new reed and gave an open invite to the cleveland Branch. Hopefully we will see him there and get him back to playing again. His photo was very appreciated. We finished at about 3:40 in order to partake in another of our favourite occupations. That of tea and scones at the nearest cafe before they closed .... we just made it. This was our last 'gig' of the year and a great end to our playing season. An enjoyable afternoon.
Christmas Shopping Evening, Bowes Museum - 30 November 2012
This was a new and exciting venue for us. We were invited, along with an excellent choir to Bowes Museum by the Friends of Bowes Museum to take part in their Christmas shopping 
evening and the switching on of the Christmas Lights. We played a mix of Carols and tunes from our usual repetoire 30 minutes and then listened to the Choir sing their carols. We selected our carols so as not to clash with the choir's repertoire. The Sheriff of Durham, whose job it was to switch on the lights, said a few words about the history behind his position and his costume - quite striking with lace cuffs etc. We then enjoyed some refreshments provided by the Friends in the cafe. We later played for a further 15 minutes. All our playing was well received and we had a very interesting and most enjoyable evening in this superb and historical venue. A very successful event.
Cleveland Branch 30th Anniversary – Cedesfeld Hall - 14 November 2012.
This mee
ting saw in the 30th Anniversary of the Cleveland Branch of the Northumbrian Pipers' Society. The Branch was started in December 1982. The first Chairman was Chris Almond who still regularly attends the monthly meetings. The Branch met in the Golden Lion, Sedgefield until 1995 when it moved into Cedesfield Hall. We have been there ever since, meeting every 2nd Wednesday of every month. Bill Bohill took over the chairmanship after 
10 years and continued for another 10 years. Dave McQuade took over the reins for a further 4 years and the Branch is currently under the excellent leadership of Margaret Moyes. We have always been an active branch, supporting the local community in its quest to promote the Northumbrian Pipes. We run piping classes at Cedesfeld Hall and we also have a very active playing group that seems to get busier every year, playing at many varied events througho
ut the region. To celebrate the occasion we invited Chris Ormston to play for us at our November meeting. Chris very kindly accepted the invitation and after each of our play-around sessions we were all treated to some amazing piping from Chris. Chris played a mix of his own tunes and lots of very old tunes of the 1700's and 1800's like we see in the Peacock's Tune Book. Anne Gale organised the celebration cake for half time and Chris Ormston was invited to take first cut. It was delicious, all made and iced by Anne so many thanks go to her. Many thanks have to go to Margaret Moyes and Anne Gale for their organisation and thanks to those who attended and supported the event. A special thanks to Chris Ormston for the stunning piping, making this a superb evening.
Our next meeting on Dec 12, 8pm will include our Christmas Meal combined with our usual playaround. Please Note: there will be no beginners classes prior to the Dec meeting. All welcome to come along and join us to play or to just listen. Visitors just contact our Secretary, Dave Cook on 01325 310114 or email: clevelandsec@northumbrianpipers.org.uk if you can to help us gauge numbers for food.
Stockton Brethren – All Saints Church, Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees – 28 September 2012.
Players (L-R) Anne Catchpole, Margaret Moyes, Jo Jones, Tim Jones, Brian Fisher and Dave Cook.
We were invited to play and talk about Northumbrian music to The Stockton Brethren at one of their regular meeting held in the All Saints Church at Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees. This was another new venue for us and another opportunity to entertain lots of of new people, most of which, I am sure had not seen or heard the Northumbrian Smallpipes.
A very quiet audience to start with and lots of worried looking faces, probably wondering what they had let themselves in for. Brian, however, was in his element and was delighted at the opportunity of dusting off all his old jokes and talking about Northumbrian music in between lots of playing by the group. The acoustics were excellent, the pipes and guitar nicely in tune and all sounded great in the hall. We played a wide variety of tunes from our repertoire and Brian and Tim were, once again, able to give an airing to the Waikato Valley duet. In our finale we gave the audience the opportunity to join in with our Geordie Set and their voices came in loud and clear singing along to Billy Boy, Bobby Shaftoe and the Keel Row. They asked if we could play the National Anthem to join them in their traditional ending to their meeting. So completely un-rehearsed the group gave an admirable performance of God Save The Queen and I am sure audience and musicians could be heard all over Hartburn raising the roof of the church. A great applause and a lot of interest from members of the audience after the performance.
The North Eastern Concertina Players 25th Anniversary - Cedesfeld Hall, Sedgefield - 22 September 2012
Cleveland Branch players taking part were (L-R) Margaret Moyes, Tim Jones, Jo Jones, Brian Fisher and Anne Catchpole.
The North Eastern Concertina Players celebrated their 25 years of music-making at Cedesfield Hall. To mark this milestone they invited all the musical groups, who play music together regularly in Sedgefield, to showcase their talents in an evening concert at Cedesfield Hall. They also invited Dave Ball, a well known folk concertina player, to run a concertina workshop in the afternoon and to take part in the evening concert. The audience was the performers themselves with their families and friends, plus members of other non-musical groups who use Cedesfeld Hall for their activities. Opening the concert was the Pushbutton Band, a group of concertina players playing a fine mix of tunes from Great Britian and Europe. The Cleveland Branch Pipers performed next, playing sets from
their now extensive repetoire. We aired a few of our newly established sets which were well recieved by the audience. Tim and Brian once again played the Waikato Valley Duet. We finished off with our usual 'Geordie Set' and the audience were in fine voice singing loud and clear along to Billy Boy, Bobby Shaftoe and The Keel Row. Next performers were a Duo from the Concertina Players and we were treated to half an hour of some excellent concertina duets. The guest, Dave Ball, then gave an excellent demonstration of solo concertina mixed in with some great folk songs. Sedgefield's own folk group, 'Cedesfeld Folk', followed with a lively performance of some fantastic traditional folk tunes. The finale was provided by the North East Concertina Players themselves. Quite a large group of Concertina players with an array of concertinas of all sizes from Treble to Bass. A very interetsing mix of music and a very entertaining performance. The Cleveland Branch were proud to help them celebrate their 25 years of music and everyone had a most enjoyable evening.
The Cleveland Branch look forward to celebrating their 30th Anniversary at their November meeting with a 'playaround' that includes a concert by the celebrated piper Chris Ormston. See our Diary for details or Contact our treasurer Anne Gale on 01429 273736 or Email: clevelandtreas@northumbrianpipers.org.uk
Talking Newspapers Coffee Morning - Bondgate Church Hall, Darlington - 22 September 2012
Players (L-
R) Margaret Moyes, Jo Jones and Brian Fisher.
Jo was asked if she would like to play guitar and sing to provide some background music for the Talking Newspapers' Coffee Morning. Jo is part of the team that reads and records the newpapers occasionally. Jo explained that she didn't do solo but suggested the pipers instead which was accepted. We were happy to oblige and at very short notice, a couple of quick phone calls enabled us to get a little trio together. This event was organised for the Users (listeners) of this excellent service to get to meet the committee and the team who produce Talking Newpapers on CD and other media.
The listeners were able to get to know the team and discuss all aspects of the service with the team members. They were also updated on the latest ideas. We provided the background music and played for about 40 mins. The listeners were entered into a free Raffle with a prize of a basket of fruit. Some excellent coffee and scones were provided as well. Margaret, Jo and Brian of course were only too happy to help sample those refreshments. We received a lot of interest from the team and from the listeners and thoroughly enjoyed the morning with them. The photo above shows Margaret demonstrating how she can play all the tunes in her sleep without being distracted by Jo and Brian. Skill!!!
Sedgefield Folk Festival - St Edmund's Church, Sedgefield - 1 September 2012
Players (L-R) Bill Kay, Jo Jones, Anne Catchepole, Margaret Moyes, Tim Jones and Brian Fisher
We have been playing at the Sedgfield Folk/Music festival for a number of years now. We feel proud that we keep getting invited back each year to perform in the church for their usual Saturday night concert. The event is organised by Joan Edmunsen and consisted of a long weekend of singarounds, concerts, workshops and Morris dancing on the green. There were also a Market and some music stalls. The Festival made good use of Ceddesfeld Hall for the workshops and singarounds, the Parish Hall and St Edmunds Church was used for the concerts and the Village Green for the dancing, markets and stalls. We started the Saturday concert off with lots of our new sets and Tim and Brian gave their first performance of their duet 'Waikato Valley'. On the concert with us were Lyrica, Lol and Maxine Allen and Marske Fishermen's Choir. The church was quite full and once again we were playing to quite a large audience. The pipes were well in tune and
the players gave an excellent performance. We were followed by Lyrica, an excellent local choir who were in fine voice. Next were Lol and Maxine Allen. Lol, a fine singer, guitarist and Ukelele player with Maxine playing Flute, Whistle and Clarinet, they gave another excellent performance. The Concert was completed with the Marske Fishermen's Choir giving great renditions of traditional folk and sea songs with odd contemporary song inserted in. Overall the Concert was fantastic. Everybody performed extremely well and received great applause and praise from a very appreciative audence. A fantastic evening. We look forward to next year.
Headland Proms - St Hilda's Church, The Headlands, Hartlepool - 25 August 2012
Players: Margaret Moyes, Anne Gale, Jo Jones, Anne Catchpole, Bill Kay, Tim Jones and Brian Fisher.
This new venue and event was quite an experience for us. St Hilda,s, a historic and beautiful Church on the Headlands in Hartlepool, hold regular concerts known as 'The Headland Proms'. We were invited to play there as the opening act of the evening. The church was very full making it one of the largest audiences weve played to. The acoustics were perfect for the pipes and we were well in tune. We gave some of our newer sets an airing and to our great relief received great applause after every set. We were then able to relax and listen to the rest of the concert, three wonderful singers, singing songs from many well known musicals. The evening was nicely finished off with a buffet supper where we were able to talk to the audience, most, I would guess, had never seen or heard of the Northumbrian Smallpipes before. We received lots of great comments and it was a real pleasure to play there to a very apreciative audience and in such a wondeful and historic setting. Jo didn't get time to work her magic to persuade one of the audience to take some photos of us playing but she did manage to surprise Bill Kay with this photo of him getting ready for the event. We had a great night and really enjoyed this event.
NGS Open Garden event - Auckland Castle Plant Fayre, Bishop Auckland - 12 August 2012
Players (L
-R) Bill Kay, Margaret Moyes, Tim Jones, Anne Gale, Jo Jones, Brian Fisher and Dave Cook.
Yet again an other new venue for us. This was a great afternoon playing on the lawn in front of the Bishop's Chapel and residence. Reminiscant of Wallington Hall but with only seven of us. The stalls were arranged in front of the 
lawn and we were well in sight of the tea and cake stall (always a good place to be). We were treated to warm weather and an Ideal setting to play the pipes and plenty of visitors. Our pipes were well in tune and our music could be h eard 
clearly throughout the grounds. We got lots of interest from the visitors and had to answer lots of questions about the pipes and the Society. As always, we were well looked after by our hosts. We put out our full repetoire and had a thouroughly enjoyable afternoon playing to a very appreciative audience in such a fine, historical setting. Brilliant!!!!
NGS Open Garden Event -Broaches Farm, Dalton, Richmond - 8 July 2012
Players (L-R) Jo Jones, Margaret Moyes, Bill Kay, Brian Fisher and Georgie the dog.
This was another excellent new venue for us. A delightful garden with some great features and brilliant views of the local countryside, located 7 miles west of Scotch Corner. Once again we were very lucky with the weather. Despite threats of severe weather and some heavy looking clouds above, we only had the occasional very light rain. Mostly it stayed warm
and bright for us. Margaret and Jo managed to get lost on the way there and were rewarded by a grand tour of the local area. Bill and Brian held the fort with some duets till they arrived. We then settled in to a full afternoon's playing. We were well looked after by our hosts and treated to a great selection of cakes and cups of tea 
during our break. Cake testing comes very highly recommended, as a hobby, by all of our players. Dogs were allowed at this garden so it was a rare treat for Brian's dog Georgie who enjoyed the attention from everyone. Visitor numbers were not high but were surprisingly good considering the threats of severe weather and competition from the Wimbledon Tennis finals. We had a great deal of interest from the visitors and the helpers and had to answer lots of questions about our group and piping. A really good afternoon playing at yet another amazing location.
Inner Wheel Charity Event -Middlefield Farm, Thorpe Thewles - 31 June 2012
Players (L-R) Brian Fisher, Bill Kay, Margaret Moyes and Dave Cook. Jo Jones took the photos.
A barbecue and musical evening held in the barn on the farm. Organised by the ladies of the Inner Wheel Club, the Cleveland Branch players, along with two fine singers provided the entertainment for the guests after they enjoyed their barbecue. An accordianist provided the music during the rest of the evening. We enjoyed songs from the
opera and a young lady, 13 years old, gave a great performance with songs such as Jerusalem and Les Miserables - 'I dreamed A Dream'. We had A Very lively and interested audience who were heard singing along with all the entertainers. We did a half hour spot, many of the audience had never heard of the Northumbrian Smallpipes before but their voices were loud and clear singing along to our Geordie Set of Billy Boy, Bobby Shaftoe and the Keel Row. Some great comments from the guests at the end.
NGS Open Garden, Browside, Boldron, Barnard Castle - 24 June 2012
Players: (L-R) Brian Fisher, Bill Kay, Laurence 
Fisher (whistle), Anne Catchpole, Margaret Moyes and Tim Jones. Jo Jones was with us on guitar but was hiding behind the camera taking the photos.
A spectacular garden with stunning views. This is a very popular venue for the National garden Scheme (and us). Visitors can play skittles and other games on the lawn or just relax in one of the garden's many beauty spots while enjoying afternoon tea. The children have the task of looking for, and getting the names, of all the 
Teddy Bears hidden around the garden. We have played here for several years now and always look forward to this event. We are treated to a very pretty spot in the garden with our own little bandstand on the edge of the large lawn. A running stream trickling past completes the scene. We were graced with warm, dry and sunny weather for most of the afternoon. Rain stopped play at about 4pm but we managed to get in a good one and a half hours playing. Encouraged once again with tea and delicous cakes. A very enjoyable afternoon and we thank our hosts for their wonderful hospitality.
NGS Open Garden, Witton Park, County Durham - 17 June 2012
Players: (L-R) Brian Fisher, Margaret Moyes, Jo Jones and Anne Catchpole.
This was a new venue for us. A National Garden Scheme event in the village of Witton Park in County Durham. The weather was a great concern for us here as we were threatened with torrential rain for the day. It was also the day the Olympic Torch was being paraded around county Durham. The visit was well worth it, however, as the day stayed cool but comfortable and dry for us and the garden
was fantastic with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside. We did manage to get a glimpse of the sun on a couple of occasions. We were treated to some fine hospitality by our hosts. They kept us going with an ample supply of tea and some delicious cakes. Visitor numbers were low because of the threat of bad weather but it was a privelege to play in such beautiful surroundings. We got to play our full repetoire and had a wonderful afternoon of piping. We had some great comments from the visitors.
Ravensford Farm, Hamsterly - 4th June 2012
Players: (L-R) Anne Catchpole, Brian Fisher and Margaret Moyes. We were joined later by Dave McQuade.
An excellent afternoon in one of our favourite venues. This event was held in the beautiful gardens of Ravensford Farm, Hamsterly, a very picturesque part of County Durham. We played music as the The Friends of Bowes museum gathered for their Jubilee dinner party. We then joined the guests for dinner and had a superb meal. An auction was held for an origional porcelien Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Commemorative plate. Proceeds from the auction were donated to the Friends. We then played more music to a very appreciative audience.
Timothy Hackworth Court, Eaglescliffe - 3rd June 2012
Players (L-R) Brian Fisher, Tim Jones, Margaret Moyes,
Jo Jones (guitar) and Anne Catchpole.
An excellent afternoon entertaining the residents of Ti mothy Hackworth Court at their Queen's Diamond Jubilee Party. We started the party off wit h a 20 minute session of tunes and then took part in a tree planting ceremony. A Victoria Plum 
tr ee was planted in their excellent garden. After several activitities we were treated to a fantastic afternoon tea and then we finished the afternoon with another 15 minute session of tunes. The treat of the afternoon was the visit by of Iasabel's newly born grandchildren, triplets born just in time for the Jubilee celebrations. Pictured right is Tim preparing and getting into perfect position for his afternoon tea.
Sedbury Hall Open Garden in aid of Diabetes UK - 20th May 2012
Pipers: (L-R) Margaret Moyes, Dave McQuade, Bill Kay, Brian Fisher, Tim Jones, Anne Catchpole with Jo Jones on her guitar.
An open garden event in aid of Diabetes UK. We enjoyed a full afternoon of playing in this
beautiful garden. The weather was cool but bright and dry. Visitors enjoyed the walks on the estate and delighted in the walled garden. Many of them sat and listened to us play. They was a plant stall and tombola stall and of course we had to take advantage of the tea and cakes stall at half time. The event was well organised and raised a fantastic £1900 for Diabetes UK.
Darlington Gaelic Society - 17th March 2012
(from L - R) Jo Jones, Bill Kay, Margaret Moyes and Brian Fisher playing at the Elm Ridge Methodist Church Darlington.
A concert arranged by the Darlington Gaelic Society in aid of St Theresa's Hospice. A very entertaining evening of music, poetry and plays along with an excellent buffet.
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