Terrington Arts has in the past done some ‘big bang’ projects like the Banners, the Millennium photographs, the Festival of Textiles and Flowers, the Rural Learning Community. These have spawned long-term groups like the Textile and Craft Group, the Band and the Art class. These 3 groups alone have clocked up around 900 attendances in the past year, showing that they have become part of the fabric of Terrington life. Considering how many other groups also flourish in the village this is a major achievement. We have been delighted at the response of village organisations to the idea of a Terrington Village Festival in 2007 and look forward to working with the Festival Steering group over the coming year. Please look at our website www.terringtonarts.org for up to date information.

ACTIVITIES 2005/6

SHOWS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Our year began with a hilarious after- supper talk at our Annual Meeting by Dulcie Lewis entitled ‘Down the Pan’ – a history of domestic conveniences.
Our first Rural Arts on Tour show of the year in October was also our first stand-up comic. Dominic Holland ventured solo into the wilds of North Yorkshire and worked his audience of over 130 people into gales of laughter.  
The Doghouse Skiffle group from Hull attracted 120 adults and 14 children for an evening of music and fun. Nostalgia for some of us, and a new form of music altogether for the younger ones – but thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Little Red Riding Hood and her Amazing Grandmother by Jack Drum Arts was our first pantomime. Children and adults enjoyed this on different levels. A complicated set gave some sightline problems but it was good to find a group who would tour in midwinter. Staging a show immediately after the New Year though gave us problems with publicity and availability of our team. The raffle raised £105 for the Play area improvements.
The House of No Return by Oddbodies from Devon was our second Rural Arts on Tour production, in April. A lone actor, playing 5 parts, acted before a video screen. The characters were difficult to distinguish and the promised creepy atmosphere didn’t happen. Booked after rave reviews for their previous productions – we felt our publicity bringing in about 80 people was better than the show!
We were fortunate to be offered In the Footsteps of Mr Butler by Ian McMillan and Jon Palmer which was playing professional theatres in May and June. The story of a troupe of actors touring Sheridan’s The Rivals around Yorkshire in 1812, it featured two Down’s syndrome actors whose movement was quite beautiful. Full Body and the Voice works with learning disabled actors but this show, written for the company, mixed able and disabled actors. An audience of 127 gave a positive response on the night, but afterwards we heard a mixed reaction to the show. But all agreed the show was well-presented, and the company a lovely group of people. We particularly approved of the way they programmed our lighting system, showing us its potential!
Thanks to Dona and Anita for organising small group outings this year to Appalachian Roots at Amotherby and the Oddsocks Great Expectations in York.

On Screen
Our film programme this year had some problems but those who attended the films enjoyed them. The first film in late October had to be cancelled at the last minute because of heating failure in the Village Hall. 30 people enjoyed Phantom of the Opera in November, and then My Big Fat Greek Wedding, scheduled between Christmas and the New Year fell foul to misunderstandings about the date with the projectionist.   Undaunted, 3 films were booked for the Spring season. Over 30 people saw Gosford Park, 20+ came to Pride and Prejudice and the Australian comedy The Dish.
Many thanks to Elaine Taylor and Malc Walker for heading up OnScreen. Members completed questionnaires at the last annual meeting expressing preferences for comedies, music and drama.  Despite this the attendances were disappointing even after we beefed up the publicity with more detailed posters, an ‘A’ frame outside the shop and emails to members.
Similar audience figures across the County have led Rural Arts to suspend the project for the time being.

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

Textile and Craft Group
Our longest-standing group led by Elaine Hubery, continues to meet fortnightly 10.30 – 3.30 in the Village Hall to share their talents and enjoy occasional guest workshops. Attendances in this friendly group average 12 but have been as high as 18, with Shirley Drury keeping track of fees and payments. At around £15 a term this must be the cheapest way around of learning new techniques.
Last Autumn was devoted to Paper and Card and included 2 workshops with Jayne Wotherspoon at Welburn funded by our NYCC grant. In the Spring each member of the group chose a topic, resulting in the making of Teddy Bears, fabric bowls, wrap around skirts and willow decorations amongst other things. During the Summer term Cathy Selwood ran a very popular workshop on ‘Getting to know your sewing machine’.

Stained Glass workshop
A dull weekend in February was brightened by a 2 day workshop on Stained Glass, led by Jane Littlefield courtesy of Rural Arts with funding from the Learning and Skills Council. The 10 participants, eligible through age and employment history, produced some wonderful work (see www.terringtonarts.org). There were many ‘old hands’ who would like to have done the course, but it was good for us to have to reach into our younger contacts to fill the places.
Hands On
We are frustratingly close to mounting the Hands on the Plump, and hope to have them in place this Autumn.
Art Class
Another legacy of the Rural Learning Community is the Art Class run by Daisy Barnes on a Monday afternoon. This continues to be popular and is now run as part of the Ryedale Community Education programme.

MUSIC AND DRAMA

The Band – back in Autumn 2003 we ran a workshop under the title ‘Let’s make music and dance’ and a motley collection of instruments turned up. Nearly 3 years and many workshops by Tony Lacey later, it has metamorphosed into Throstle Bank, a band able to take on gigs around the County. Still an eclectic collection of instruments – mandolin, guitar, banjo, cello, clarinet, saxophone and accordion – they have recently taken on a caller and done their first Barn Dance. They also played at the Ryedale Chairman’s Charity event at the Helmsley Walled Garden, have repeat bookings at the Ryedale Folk Museum and have been invited back for the Rural Arts Christmas evening at the Old Courthouse in Thirsk. Marco Baben, their leader has arranged most of the music for the group which puts in hours of practice together weekly in the Music Room at Terrington Hall. Their successful Awards for All bid has allowed them to buy music software and amps needed for external gigs, and the NYCC grant subsidised their coaching.
Yorkshire Sounds
At last year’s Annual Meeting Tony Lacey floated the idea of an audio CD of Terrington, with recordings of the Band, the Choir, the schools etc. The aim was to raise standards in these groups by encouraging them to listen to themselves! This initial idea grew into a wider vision of collecting sounds from several villages and a bid to the Local Heritage Initiative for funds. They shelved their decision until the Spring so that it was not until mid-June that news came that funds were forthcoming. By the time the organising group had met, the target groups were all going on holiday, so the projected March start is now in September.
The project aims to create an archive of sound for the villages. Recordings of songs, music, poems, stories, ambient sounds are all planned.
The other villages are Rosedale and the Byland area.
A selection of the best Yorkshire Sounds will be put on a CD for sale on the internet.
A professional sound kit has been bought and a hand-held digital recorder will be lent to the village for individual recording.
Training is being offered free of charge to people interested in helping with the project. Courses in Dreamweaver are being offered for those interested in the website aspect, and in Sound for recording and editing.

Projects which have not moved forward have been Terrington Players, which still lacks a director, the History group which lacks a leader with time to take all the ideas forward and the Spruce group which stalled for lack of funding to print the book written by Angela Cox. These three, and the difficulty in finding a tutor for the Salsa classes we planned, have slipped through the net because of the commitments and priorities of the members of the Working Group. The way we work means that we seize opportunities as they are offered and work with those who have time and energy.   We would be delighted to hear from any member interested in taking any of these forward.           

Membership
Our membership rose again this year, which shows we are getting something right. We do appreciate your support which gives us basic income and the tax back for those who have signed the Gift Aid form.
This year we had 107 households containing 188 adults in membership, 27% of which were from outside the Parish.  72 email addresses are regularly circulated and we have tried to divide non-email members between the Working Group to pass on messages or pop them through a neighbour’s letter-box. We did manage a Spring newsletter – we know people like a piece of paper to put on their notice-board. Please tell us if you feel you did not hear about what was going on this year. Did we miss you somehow? Have you changed your email address and not told us?

Thank you
We would like to thank Rural Arts for their continued support with workshops, On Tour and whatever we ask of them! Also grateful thanks to Yvette Turnbull, Ryedale Arts Development Officer, for her advice and financial support for ‘In the Footsteps of Mr Butler’.
A final thank you to all who helped in any way with our activities in the last year, especially those who took round leaflets in all weathers, those who set up and cleared away for shows, made meals for the performers, sold tickets, hosted meetings – and all of you for turning up and giving us feedback on our work.

Lesley Bradshaw, Secretary                    August 2006

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