• Existential Breakfast • Midnight Ghost Stories • The Return of Ian McMillan
• Literary Cricket • The Water Thief undone • Late Night Festival Club
• Cullercoats Special Night • Make your own poetry book • Where’s Waller?
Words • Music • Oddities Cullercoats seafront venues June 8-11 2017 1
• The Best North East Music • Vibrant Fringe And much more...
Start Here BLIMEY! HERE WE GO AGAIN! THE first IRON Press Festival, The IRON Age in 2013 was planned as a one-off, a special occasion to celebrate the press’ forty years of independent publishing. But matters can take their own course. Reactions to that first festival were so positive that the hand of fate (or some such) pushed us inexorably towards Festival number two, Eclectic IRON in 2015. Once again, the crowds flocked to our small seaside village to experience the mix of fun and erudition as writers, musicians and strange occurences created a unique atmosphere round the curved Cullercoats harbour seafront.
for a paranormal literary experience as we launch Cold Iron – Ghost Stories of the 21st Century, a new look at this most traditional of forms. The event takes place at midnight along Cullercoats sea front on Sat June 10th in the magnificent French Gothic Grade 1 listed St. George’s Church whose spire rises three times the height of the Angel of the North.
Onto festival number three – IRON in the Soul. Aged hippies, survivors of the counter revolution (where did that go?) and general literary cognoscenti will recognise the title as that of a Jean Paul Sartre book, one reason we were moved to include an Existential Breakfast (as enjoyed daily by Sartre and his mistress Simon de Beauvoir in De Flore, the Parisian cafe), followed by a lecture, Existentialism – What on Earth Is It? We suspect 98 per cent of the population don’t know the answer.
There’s also Liverpool poet David Bateman’s collection, Shtum – The Stutter Poems which The Crack summed up thus: ‘These punchy poems are told with wit and invention and will surely offer up due recognition to those who stutter and insight to those who don’t.’
Dr Colin Cameron of Northumbria University is the speaker at our newest festival venue, The Boat Yard. And if we wake you early for an intellectual breakfast, stay up late
Several new IRON Press books get an airing. Canadian poet Alison Calder is flying across the pond to launch her collection Connectomics – Poems of the Brain, an unusual merger of art and science with an introduction by polymath Dr Raymond Tallis, who will be reading at the same event.
Hot on the heels is The Water Thief, a modern fable by Cullercoats based Kitty Fitzgerald, author of several novels including the globally successful Pigtopia. The Water Thief is a cultural, political and ecological tale and also a powerfully strong story, illustrated by the Easington based artist Nicola Balfour. Festival oddities include our literary cricket match between poets and prose writers (which also celebrates our
two cricket books). The teams are captained by Durham poet S.J.Litherland and the young person’s novelist David Almond. There’s our late night festival club with live music at The Salt House, our al fresco Fringe Festival with live music ringing across the bay on Saturday and Sunday; plus Where’s Waller? in which Mike Waller performs at unexpected outdoor places. There’s the return of the irrepressible Ian McMillan whose appearance was the sensation of the 2013 Festival. There’s theatre with Ruth Henderson’s specially commissioned new performance piece Death at Sea - A Cullercoats Tragedy, featuring The Cloggies and The Keelers. And the Free as a Bard event throws together some of the region’s leading poets and musicians to see what creations evolve. You can produce a beautiful book of your own poetry in a workshop run by Bridget Yhearm, relax with a bottle of The IRON Age beer specially brewed by Cullercoats Brewery, take a creative walk round the village followed by a workshop with poet Colette Bryce. Almost all festival events are clustered round or near the crescent shaped Cullercoats Harbour. Brave festival goers can undertake, at half the normal price, a kayak sea journey round St.Mary’s Island, a wildlife
sanctuary and home of the famous lighthouse. Enjoy the lovely concert room of The Crescent Working Men’s Club, the seascape view from the RNLI, the historical sense of the Fishermen’s Mission, the vaulted splendour of St. George’s Church. Chill out in one the village’s several outlets whose output ranges from haute cuisine to late night kebabs. Tickets for all events can be bought online at our website, on the IRON Press hotline or direct from Cullercoats Coffee (which also hosts the festival’s Literary Quiz). All events are reasonably priced. Several are free. As well as famous names, we introduce the public to talented artists they possibly did not know who are associated with IRON Press. IRON in the Soul is run on a tight budget by the steering group, Elaine Cusack, Kitty Fitzgerald, Harry Gallager, Terry Jones, Dave Shaw and myself. Our technicians are Dylan Mortimer and Ryan Siddall. Huge thanks to all of them. May the four days be a journey of discovery, an intellectually challenging experience and equally as important, also a hoot. Peter Mortimer Founder and Editor, IRON Press
Thursday 8th June Those in Peril: A Cullercoats Tragedy
by Ruth Henderson With The Keelers and The Cloggies Crescent Club 7.30pm ÂŁ8.00
We open this festival with a Cullercoats Special, an amalgam of talents combining theatre, music and dance all with a local flavour, presented by the IRON Press sister organisation, Cloud Nine Theatre Productions. The coast novelist Ruth Henderson has written a short theatre piece called Those in Peril - a Cullercoats Tragedy. This is based round the events of 1848 when, along with colleagues, four fishermen of the Lisle family drowned as they battled huge swells in view of onlookers on the Cullercoats shore. George Lisle and his sons George and Robert and his brother Robert are buried in the graveyard at Tynemouth Priory.
Ruth Henderson
The Cloggies
As well as actors, the performance includes input from the renowned sea shanty group The Keelers and special choreography from The Newcastle Cloggies. Each group will also perform a set of their own. This is very much a contemporary evening which commemorates an historical and tragic Cullercoats event. The performance is directed by Peter Mortimer. The Keelers
Festival Club |10-Midnight | The Salt House | Live Music | Free - Tonight: Alex Kirtley
Friday 9th June The Irrepressible Ian McMillan With music from Ray Rowley Crescent Club 7.30pm £8.00
Ex-assistant editor of IRON Magazine, now a nationally known writer, performer and broadcaster, Ian McMillan is a force of nature whose appearance at the 2013 IRON Age Festival has passed into local legend. Grown men and women were left spluttering and helpless as The Bard of Barnsley’s unstoppable energy, wit and sense of mayhem reduced the concert room of The Crescent Club to paroxysms of laughter. We have been threatened with dire consequences unless we bring him back and thus we bow to public pressure. As support, the evening opens with the delights of our very own Ray Rowley, a tireless bastion of the local buskers’ scene whose energetic, funny and occasionally risque lyrics and performance bounce us all through a highly animated musical experience and are the perfect complement to Ian McMillan’s talents. This is an irresistible combination and tickets are likely to be snapped up early.
Ian McMillan has also agreed to visit Cullercoats Primary School the same afternoon and run a series of writing sessions with the pupils.
Ian McMillan
Ray Rowley
Cullercoats Crescent Club
Festival Club |10-Midnight | The Salt House | Live Music | Free - Tonight: Jonathan Woodward & Steve Coates
Saturday/Sunday 10th-11th June Festival Fringe
At our second festival, the al fresco musical fringe was a great success and put a spring in the step of passers-by. Organised by Terry and Janice Jones and taking place on the seafront corner of Mast Lane Saturday and Sunday between 12 noon-4pm, the fringe offers free performances from a whole range of North East musicians and sends its sweet tones drifting over the bay. Artists already booked to appear include: Jill Watson with Cornshaft, John E Thornton, Larry Page, Lindsay O’Neill Brown, Mike Waller, Muddy Line Duo, Phil Mitchell & Blues Band,Ray Rowley, Sarah Toffoli, Shaw Clark Project
John E Thornton
Phil Mitchell
Festival Late Night Club - Nightly Salt House Brasserie 10pm - midnight FREE
Each night from 10pm, The Salt House Brasserie, which overlooks the harbour becomes our special late night club where you can chill out, meet other festival goers and performers and enjoy live acoustic music from some of the coast’s top talents. Live Music from: THURS - Alex Kirtley FRIDAY - Jonathan Woodward & Steve Coates SAT - Christine Athey & Paul McManus SUN - All musicians welcome
Mike Waller
Saturday 10th June An Existential Breakfast
followed by a lecture from Colin Cameron Northumbria University: Existentialism – What on Earth is that? £10 (inclusive of breakfast) The Boatyard 8.30 am Savour the culinary delights of one or the two breakfasts
(you choose) once enjoyed daily at the Parisian Cafe de Flore by famous existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and his mistress Simone de Beauvoir. One of Sartre’s books, Iron in The Soul gave us our festival title. Breakfast (poached eggs on toast or Welsh rarebit and Worcester sauce, plus of course strong coffee) is followed by an entertaining and informative talk by Dr Colin Cameron on one of the great mysteries of the universe, the other mystery being what happens to the second sock in the washing machine. Time allowed for questions. Places are limited and booking ahead is essential.
Colin Cameron
Jean Paul Sartre
Simone de Beauvoir
Bookmaking workshop with Bridget Yhearm
Val Clark room Cullercoats Community Centre 10am–12 noon £15 Using your own poetry, within two hours you can create a beautifully illustrated handmade book which you can then take away and treasure .
Bridget Yhearm
Places are limited to six people and advance booking is essential. Bridget Yhearm needs to have copies of the poems before the day itself. Details when booking. The price includes all materials and refreshments. Bridget is the founder of Honeybridge House. ... and a handmade book
This festival is brought to you by IRON Press who have been publishing fine literary books for 44 years, almost all that time in Cullercoats.The unique IRON House in Marden Terrace is opened up on Heritage Open Days for a free Pyschedelic Perambulation. Check out our book list online @ <www.ironpress.co.uk>. IRON Press Tel: 0191 2531901
Cullercoats on Camera
Doug Laidlaw - Silhouette at Dawn
Alan Farnworth - North jetty landing
Jackie Paice - Storm clouds gathering
Wilf Doyle - Harbour day
Simon Lowe - Overwhelmed
Paul Turner - Mackerel sky
John Stephenson - Night life
Via The News Guardian and social media, we invited people to send in contemporary photos of Cullercoats.We had more than fifty submitted and it was a difficult choice selecting seven. We did though. Thanks to all. Festival tickets to photographers selected.
Saturday 10th June SHTUM – The Stutter Poems by David Bateman
The Water Thief by Kitty Fitzgerald
David Bateman’s new IRON Press book follows on two decades after we published Curse of the Killer Hedge, an anarchically funny collection of this Liverpool poet’s contemporary verse. Shtum has a more serious subject matter, the experiences of the life of a stutterer, but the poems are written with a wit and verve that never quite disguise how enlightening these punchy poems are. Harry Gallagher is a Cullercoats performance poet who appears regularly in many venues and runs the monthly Stanza poetry nights at The Exchange, North Shields. The Blyth-based Shaw Clark Project are among the coast’s best loved artists.
The official launch of Kitty Fitzgerald’s new fable from IRON Press. This is a highly readable short book; a political, ecological and cultural fable as a young girl and her father on a small island are confronted with the reality and cruelty of global market forces when the local well and water supply are annexed. For support they call upon the mythical powers of the manatee, a creature who we learn is the girl’s mother. The book is illustrated by Nicola Balfour whose artwork will be on display. Kitty Fitzgerald has written plays for stage and radio and has published four novels, including Pigtopia (Faber) which has been translated into 27 languages. IRON Press also published her short story collection Miranda’s Shadow.
With Harry Gallagher Music by Shaw Clark Project RNLI 1.00pm £6.00
David Bateman
Harry Gallagher
Illustrated by Nicola Balfour Music from The Electric Peasants RNLI 3pm £6.00
The Shaw Clark Project
The Electric Peasants are a talented Tyneside twosome (Patrick Snape and Ian Briedis) whose latest CD. Someone Stole the Sky, affirms their highly individual output.
Kitty Fitzgerald
The Electric Peasants
Saturday 10th Alison Calder and Raymond Tallis Music from J D O’Neill RNLI 7.30 pm, £8.00
IRON Press are delighted to launch Connectomics – Poems of the Brain, the first collection in the UK by the Canadian poet Alison Calder Alison Calder. These highly individual poems translate the scientific research of our most complex human organ into the imaginative vision of the poet. Alison’s first book Wolf Tree, won two Manitoba Book Awards and her second In The Tiger Park was shortlisted for the Lansdown Prize. Raymond Tallis is a polymath; a philosopher, poet, novelist, cultural critic, Raymond Tallis retired medical physician and clinical neuroscientist. He has appeared on Desert Island Discs, and is featured annually at the Hay-on-Wye Book Festival, so how come loads of people have never heard of him? We have. IRON Press published his first two poetry books, Between the Zones and Fathers and Sons and we invited him to write the intro to Alison Calder’s Connectomics. J.D.O’Neill is among the coast’s most talented musicians and song writers. He is also a dedicated Buskers’ Nights organiser.
J D O’Neill
Festival Club |10-Midnight | The Salt House | Live Music | Free - Tonight: Christine Arthey & Paul McManus
Saturday 10th
Cold IRON Ghost stories
Price: £6.00 (half of proceeds go to church funds) St. George’s Church, midnight We can’t wait for this! Over the last 18 months editors Peter Mortimer and Eileen Jones have been inviting, gathering together, reading and selecting new unpublished ghost stories written in the 21st century. The result is a group of 17 tales chosen from almost 200 submitted by authors both established and unknown and spread throughout the UK. The selected stories pay homage to the tradition of the ghost story while placing it firmly in the context of our own times. Thus, ghosts appear on football terraces, in cancer wards, on the floor of TV shows, on the late night service bus, over a Sunday dinner, at a supermarket checkout and near a council grass-cutting machine. Four of the authors will read extracts for our midnight launch in this spectacular French gothic church which, perched on its Cullercoats cliff top, dominates the skyline. To add to the atmosphere, Ryan Siddall will perform live on the church’s famous T.C. Lewis organ with its unique clarity of sound. Many thanks to St. George’s Church Cullercoats and Father Adrian Hughes for making the venue available and at the bewitching hour of midnight. To warm the spirits(?), hot cocoa is laid on inside the church from 11.30pm onwards. Small donation optional.
Ryan Siddall
Sunday 11th The Cullercoats Test
Cullercoats walk and workshop with Colette Bryce
Beaconsfield. 10.00am Free
S.J.Litherland’s team of six North East poets will take on David Almond’s team of six North East prose writers in a short sharp game of cricket.
Fishermen’s Mission, meet 1pm. £8.00
David Almond
Howzat!
Cullercoats Church Hall 11.30am Free Cricket has a long literary tradition though it’s one that is almost exclusively male. Durham poet S.J. Litherland challenged that with her poems The Homage, based on the last season as England captain of the Warwickshire player Nassim Hussain. Celebrated North East novelist David Almond will read extracts from the other IRON press book of cricket poems, David Phillips’ Man in the Long Grass – the fictitious final season of a county player in decline.
S J Litherland
An eye opening walk round the Cullercoats coast line, beach, headland and rocks with the renowned poet Colette Bryce, former Colette Bryce writer-in residence at The Dove Marine Laboratory. Among Colette’s several award winning poetry collections is Ballasting the Ark whose contents evoke brilliantly a sense of our own coastal village. The tour itself will be lead by Annie Ivison of Dove Marine Laboratory. The group set off on the one hour walk from the Fishermen’s Mission and return there for the workshop. Participating authors are encouraged to submit work resulting from the sessions to IRON Press, who, depending on the quality, may publish a pamphlet of contemporary Cullercoats poems. Spaces are limited. Booking ahead essential.
WHERE’S WALLER? During Sunday daytime, that well-known coast musician Mike Waller, plus his keyboard, will be popping up in unexpected outdoor Cullercoats locations to give festival goers a quick al fresco musical treat. Catching him brings good luck!
‘WH E KEE RE’S WA P AN L EYE LER? OUT !
Sun 11th No Man is an Island❋
An Adventure run by Cullercoats Bike and Kayak Centre 3.00pm £15.00 A cut-price festival treat! A kayak circumnavigation around St.Mary’s Island, Whitley Bay under the careful leadership of Simon Laing. The sea journey takes in the grey seal colony, a whole array of bird life plus the history of the lighthouse and the island. Meeting point: St Marys Island car park, wearing light outdoor layers and a waterproof jacket. Lifejacket provided. The aim is to stay dry, but bring a full change of clothes and a towel, just in case! Duration 90/100mns. More details on booking. Numbers limited to 16. Booking ahead essential.
The Festival Literary Quiz
£6.00 team entry (max. 4 per team) Cullercoats Coffee 5pm So who did write that blooming book...? Sophie O’Neill, managing editor of Inpress Ltd, the Newcastle-based organisation that represents to the trade IRON and more than 40 independent presses, sets and hosts this special literary quiz that will test your knowledge about writers and books in this region and beyond. Challenging but also we hope, fun. Fortified by the best coffee at the coast. Special literary prizes to be won! Plus nibbles. Booking ahead advisable. Individual entries allowed, but collective teams (maximum four people) fare better!
Sophie O’Neill
Three little brain teasers to whet your appetite!
Please note: The trip (normally £30) is offered half price to festival supporters and can only be reserved when booking another festival event. ❋
nor any woman, come to that!
Which writer?
Which book?
Which character?
Sunday 11th Free as a Bard Special
COLOUR-CODED GUIDE TO EVENTS
Introduced by Elaine Cusack RNLI 8pm £5.00 Free as a Bard (or FaaB for short) is an extremely popular and successful poetry and music night, which IRON Press has helped run in nearby Whitley Bay for five years. FaaB’s first home was in The Avalon pub with co-organiser poet Jo Scott. In 2013 writer Elaine Cusack took over Jo’s role and FaaB’s venue switched to one of Whitley Bay’s most exciting grass-roots cultural locations, the Jam Jar Cinema. All events are staged on a Sunday. The evenings, with a licensed bar and bowls of fresh fruit, include two published poets from this region or beyond, plus one singer/songwriter and a raffle for new books from IRON Press and Red Squirrel Press. The atmosphere is great and we nearly always sell out.
Date
Elaine Cusack
This evening we gather together some of the FaaB poets and musicians who have performed at the Jam Jar Cinema since our move there in January 2014. For full line-up check our Facebook page and website. The event is organised and introduced by writer Elaine Cusack who co-organises and hosts Free as a Bard events with IRON Press’ Peter Mortimer.
Time
Location
Price
June 8 Those in Peril
Event
7.30pm
Crescent Club
£8
June 8 Festival Club
10-12pm
Salt House
Free
June 9 Ian McMillan
Afternoon Primary School
N/A
June 9 Ian McMillan
7.30pm
Crescent CLub
£8
June 9 Festival Club
10-12pm
Salt House
Free
June 10 Existential B’fast
8.30am
The Boatyard
£10
June 10 Fringe
12-4pm
Seafront
Free
June 10 Bookmaking
10am
Community Centre
£15
June 10 The Stutter Poems
1.00pm
RNLI
£6
June 10 The Water Thief
3.00pm
RNLI
£6
June 10 Connectomics
7.30pm
RNLI
£8
June 10 Festival Club
10-12pm
Salt House
Free
June 10 Cold IRON
Midnight
St George’s Church
£6
June 11 Where’s Waller?
Any time
Any place
Free
June 11 Fringe
12-4pm
Seafront
Free
June 11 Cullercoats Test
10am
Beaconsfield
Free
June 11 Howzat!
11.30am
Church Hall
Free
June 11 Walk and Workshop 1pm
Fishermen’s Mission
£8
June 11 No Man is an Island 3pm
St Mary’s Island
£15
June 11 Literary Quiz
5pm
Cullercoats Coffee
£6
June 11 Free as a Bard
8pm
RNLI
£5
June 11 Festival Club
10-12pm
Salt House
Free
See back cover for map of locations and how to book tickets
Festival Club |10-Midnight | The Salt House | Live Music | Free - Tonight: All musicians welcome
See inside back cover for a colour-coded diary of events
Tickets!
Ticket Source 0333 666 3366
www.ticketsource.co.uk/iron-press
Direct from
Booking fees apply to online and telephone sales
Fishermen’s Mission Bike and Kayak Centre Community Centre Crescent Club Cullercoats Coffee RNLI The Boatyard Salt House
No booking fees for these offliners!
Metro 30 mins from central Newcastle
Festival Beer
Once again the wonderful Cullercoats Brewery has brewed a special beer for our festival. Available at The Salt House, The Boat Yard, Boda Homes and other venues. Cheers!
3.6 miles north of Cullercoats
Fringe
Cullercoats Cullercoats Primary School
St Georges Church
Beaconsfield Without the above organisations, we’d be stuck. Thanks!
St Mary’s Island car park
Brochure design by Brian Grogan and Peter Mortimer.
The Famous Tynemouth Long Sands
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