YOUTH LANDSCAPERS TIMBER 2023

FRIDAY 7 JULY

7.30 pmTHE COALTITS – Ballads, tunes & more from our favourite singers!
8.15 pmLaunch – The Stage of of Possibility
8.30 pmKRISSY K – live DJ set to make you move your feet!
9.15 pmThe Stage is yours! Explore and take a turn!
11.00 pmCLOSE

SATURDAY 8 JULY

11.00 amPOSSIBILITY THINKING WORKSHOP with TH!NK FC
12.00 pmTELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW!
– Ghost Tales from Moira Furnace with Tom Phillips
– Message from a Fungus with Wild Beverley
– Moira Myths with The Coaltits
1.15 pmFAMILY FOLKTALES FROM LEICESTERSHIRE with Tom the Tale-teller
2.00 pmARCHITECTURE + ACTIVISM with Julian Marsh and Will Harvey
3.00 pmSKYLER FELL – accordion playing extraordinaire!
4.00 pmTOM HARRIS – intuitive beats and exploratory sounds
8.00 pmKARAOKE! Community karaoke! Grab the mic!
9.00 pmTHE STAGE IS YOURS – explore our stage
10.00 pmTHE SOUND OF THE STAGE – Kris Kirkwood with Alfie Ropson and YLC
11.00 pmCLOSE

SUNDAY 9 JULY

10.30 amGRESLEY COLLIERY BAND – legendary local brass for your Sunday Morning!
11.15 amPOSSIBILITY THINKING WORKSHOP with TH!NK FC
12.15 pmTELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW!
– Workers’ play time: Music, dance & industry, David Severn
– How bats are like elephants with Jo Kirkwood
1.30 pmMELODY BLUE – choral songs and singalongs!
2.15 pmDAWN JUTTON – Staffordshire Poet Laureate
3.15 pmWRENNE – Inter-planetary performance!
4.30 pmRAVE-ALUTION – pressing issues, groovy beats!
5.30 pmCHARLOTTE BETTSON – acoustic songs from award winning local singer
9.30 pmTHE SOUND OF THE STAGE – Kris Kirkwood with Alfie Ropson and YLC

MUSIC

THE COALTITS

The Coal Tits are a Community Singing Group based in the National Forest. Our material is written by group members, using local tales and legends. The songs celebrate the industries that made the area – coal mining, and clay pipes and bricks – the local history from the Viking invasions to the present day, and notable characters and events around the National Forest.

KRISSY K

From the small mining village of Moria, Krissy provides all the groove you need to make your feet move and your heart beat. His eclectic taste and library of tracks will have you dancing the night away. His love for music is present in the songs and pieces he produces and his potential is just as limitless as his creativity.

SKYLER FELL

Skyler Fell is a singin’ accordion playing cowgirl from the dusty desert jewel of Joshua Tree, California. Bringing on some American country bluegrass style with a touch of bluesy vaudeville and sideshow mystery.

TOM HARRIS

Informing the technical design process is an emotional process. Searching for an emotional resonance, the physicality of my electronic music process, engages the body, allowing memories, hidden parts, and ancestral knowledge to emerge from the past, into the present and transmitting into future forms. Engaging in live performance and improvisation creates the possibility to ‘dream’ in real time and co-create a shared experience with audiences, through abstract compositions.

GRESLEY COLLIERY YOUTH & COMMUNITY BAND

The Gresley Colliery Youth Brass Band formerly known as the Gresley Junior Band was formed in 2002, when a group of players in the Gresley Old Hall Brass Band volunteered to offer local youngsters the chance to learn a brass instrument. Gresley Old Hall Brass Band itself dates back to 1805. Under the guidance of their Musical Director Fay Bayliss, the Youth Band went from strength to strength with members of the group moving up to become members of the senior band. In 2014 under the baton of Duncan Jackson their Principal Senior Band EEb Bass player, they achieved significant success performing in competitions and in more concerts in its own right. With a much increased size, the band continues to build on their successes under the battons of Martín Bullock and now more recently Dan Milner. Today, The band is now lead by Matt Pope, the principal cornet player from the senior band. Matt has a long established history of both playing and conducting with bands across the midlands. With mentions recently on BBC Radio and with further concerts planned the future of both the youth and senior bands looks very bright indeed!

MELODY BLUE

MD: Wendy Burns. Melody Blue sing a variety of songs, e.g folk songs, sea shanties, popular songs across the ages, pop songs and even ‘dabble’ a bit with opera! Sometimes we sing unaccompanied, sometimes not! Melody Blue meets on Thursdays from 6.00pm to 7.15pm at St Laurence Church Hall, Measham. We always welcome new members and are open to all. Love to see you there!

WRENNE

Wrenne will be performing her album “This is There (Now I can Hear What Isn’t There) Part 2” . She will be joined on stage with fellow imaginary elderly, Paul Frederick, who will help to facilitate human connection within her universe in collaboration with both the real and imaginary audience members in attendance. She believes she is real and hopes you can relate to her somehow. Some words about Wrenne: “When I saw Wrenne perform recently it felt as if I was witnessing her single-handedly deconstruct and reconstruct what it is to be a singer songwriter in 2023”  – Dan Whitehouse (The Glass Age @brumradio). 

RAVE-ALUTION

I’m a social and environmental justice activist who raps about pressing issues while keeping it light and groovy. 

CHARLOTTE BETTSON

Charlotte Bettson is an indie pop rock artist from Derbyshire who will be performing an acoustic set for Timber Festival. She has been featured on many BBC Radio stations across the East Midlands as well as international ones like planet rock and performed at YNOT Festival too. Her new track ‘The Starting Line’ was recently BBC Introducing’s track of the week.

PERFORMANCE / WORKSHOPS

POSSIBILITY THINKING

WITH TH!NK FC

A fun and interactive workshop to get you thinking. Looking for ideas,?.this is the place to be. You’ll get to have a practice at the festival and then have a tool to take away to use in your everyday life and to share with others!  For all.ages. TH!NK FC CIC is a social enterprise committed to Levelling the Playing field by sharing business tools and making them accessible to all.

FAMILY FOLK TALES FROM LEICESTERSHIRE

with TOM THE TALE TELLER

Myths, legends, and folktales have been kept alive for thousands of years through the telling of these stories, from the mouth of the storyteller to the ears of the listeners. Tom keeps this age old tradition alive, telling the stories he grew up with from Leicestershire and from around the world. Stories are for telling and a storyteller needs an audience to make the magic happen.

ARCHITECTURE AND ACTIVISM

Julian Marsh in conversation with Will Harvey

Julian was partner at Marsh:Grochowski Architects & Professor of Architecture, Sheffield Hallam University. He specialises in low energy architecture & buildings for the arts. Now retired he works for Mozes, a community energy group in the Meadows, on the Green Meadows Project & is part of XR London Production Team supporting actions & events like the recent Big One.

Emanating from the common ground of art and architecture architectural designer William Harvey’s work explores post-industrial landscapes / climate change heritage; urban mining & circular economies; and resilient community building. 

DAWN JUTTON

Dawn Jutton is the current Staffordshire Poet Laureate, a role to which she brings over forty years as a creative professional that has evolved into a dual practice of fine art and poetry.  The influence of the rich varied landscapes of the Midlands shines through in both her writing and images but Dawn also digs deep into her memories of growing up as a forces’ child, ageing and the challenges that occur when coming out later in life. 

TALKS

GHOSTS OF THE FURNACE

with Tom Phillips

Tom, the Site Manager of the Moira Furnace, started running the site 5 years ago and didn’t even know it existed. He now knows the site and its history almost as well as his own. Join him to learn how some spooky encounters in the 200+ year old building lead to deepening his connection with the furnace and the land in which it sits.

MESSAGE FROM A FUNGUS

with Wild Beverley

As a professional ecologist, I have spent my career protecting wildlife and creating spaces for nature. I spend my weekends introducing fungi and flora to new friends, exploring habitats and naming species . We need to understand more about what we have left. 

MOIRA MYTHS

with The Coaltits

Coaltits performers Ted and Hazel share some inside information about some of their songs, which are inspired by some strange and mysterious local stories. 

WORKERS PLAYTIME: DANCE, MUSIC AND INDUSTRY

with David Severn

David Severn is a Documentary Photographer based in Nottingham. His photography deals with themes such as the effects of deindustrialization, working class culture and social life within British post-industrial communities. Drawn to subjects that echo his experiences growing up in a former Coal Mining town in the East Midlands, David’s photographs seek to capture a sense of place shaped by his memories and cultural background. 

How bats are like elephants (and how they’re not)

with Joe Kirkwood

Everyone knows that bats can fly but did you know they are not blind? Come and find out how these tiny (and not so tiny) mammals break all the rules including having complex social structures which have much more in common with elephants than you think. You’ll see these fascinating creatures of the dark in a whole new light!