{"id":444,"date":"2019-10-15T09:02:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T08:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=444"},"modified":"2019-10-15T09:04:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T08:04:47","slug":"dialect-detours-spoken-stories-by-michael-higgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/10\/15\/dialect-detours-spoken-stories-by-michael-higgins\/","title":{"rendered":"DIALECT DETOURS AND SPOKEN STORIES by Michael Higgins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

POEMS &\nSTORIES: STANDARD & DIALECT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Michael\nHiggins & Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Higgins tells of the reading and\nrecording of The Queen Of The Well: a children\u00b4s talking-book.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
an audio book
and a puppet show<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In\nSeptember I took part in a recording of The\nQueen of the Well<\/em>, a children\u00b4s talking book.The producer, David Chatton\nBarker, had heard my presentation of dialect poetry at a folklore event and\nasked me and my fellow Edwin Waugh Dialect Society member, Alison Cooper, to\nread respectively the words of the narrator (me) and those of the rather\nsinister Queen of the Well (Alison) in the Rev. G. R. Oakley\u00b4s story, \u00b4The\nLegend of Brown Wardle\u00b4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev.\nGeorge Robert Oakley (1864\u20131932) had been brought up in Yorkshire and attended\nSheffield Royal Grammar School and the St Aidan\u00b4s Theological College in\nBirkenhead. In 1895 he became the first vicar of the then recently completed St\nAndrew\u00b4s church in Dearnley, near Littleborough in Rochdale Borough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst\nhere, like many Anglican vicars of his time, he took a keen interest in local\nhistory and folklore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed,\nit is arguable that much of what is termed these days as \u00b4pagan pre Christian\u00b4\nyearning was lovingly preserved by such men, not as condescension to childhood\nand peasant innocence but because they were jolly good yarns and preserved an\nawe of the unseen and unforeseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe time of the publication of In Olden\nDays \u2013 Legends of Rochdale and its Neighbourhood<\/em> in 1923 Reverend Oakley\nwas in his last year at St Andrew\u00b4s, having taken the post of vicar at St Mary\nthe Virgin, Illingworth, in Yorkshire, a post he held until his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nlegends have that air of genuine half-legend and fanciful conjecture, sometimes\nalmost nonsensical, sometimes sinister. The Legend of Brown Wardle is one of\nthe latter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also\nincluded in the book are legends of the major halls dotted round the Rochdale\narea such as Stubley, Clegg, Belfield, Dearnley, Castleton, Littleborough and,\ncloser to us, Royton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis catalogue of ghost and goblin mischief Royton\u00b4s tale involved the curse of\na \u00b4ghastly hand\u00b4 severed in a duel in the 17th<\/sup> century, when the\nByrons lived in Royton Hall, and kept in a box in the attic lest someone should\ndrop in down the old spiral stone staircase. \u00b4When the ghastly hand down the\nstaircase falls, beware the shivering crumbling walls etc \u2026\u00b4 (went the curse).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ntale correctly includes all the Pickford children then living at the hall, save\nthe now famously \u00b4outed\u00b4 Sapphist, Frances. \nIt also includes known neighbours and friends of the children.  Yes, they dropped in down the stairs whilst\nromancing over the curse, and yes, disaster fell, as did the chimneys and\nseveral beams (a true occurrence in 1790).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLegend of Brown Wardle begins in the Spring of 1313 during a rebellion In\nLancashire involving earls and barons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nhunting party from Wardle, ostensibly enjoying a day free from political\nunrest, enjoys hunting with their hawks until they encounter the famous \u00b4churn\nwell\u00b4 on Brown Wardle hill and its chilling angry spirit queen seeking revenge\nfor past injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwon\u00b4t reveal the plot as the recording (in vinyl and digital) is due out any\nday now and these things are best kept a mystery until they are heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis a tale retold for children in which both Alison and I composed melodies for\nthe tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mine\nis the main melody played throughout and Alison composed her own lyric and\nmelody for the Queen\u00b4s dire message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe end of the tale the final jingle is taken up from me by St Anselm school\nchoir and Healey Brass Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nrecording was more relaxed than I thought it would be save a phone ringing on\nthe very last word of one chapter and hens outside also joining in with very\nloud clucking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nwas my recording session done in a farmhouse above Whitworth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alison\u00b4s\nwas done separately so I don\u00b4t know how she went on.  But I have heard the full recording and can\nsafely say she does the evil queen perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwere joined on the recording by Whitworth And Healy Brass Band and Whitworth\nSchool Choir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nofficial launch is to be in February with a public reading and puppet show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndo hope the choir and band will be there and that everyone has a grand time\ntaking part in or hearing the legend that was retold and fashioned by a local\nvicar nearly a hundred years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nreading the advertisement for the forthcoming release I find that \u00b4The Wizard\nof Wardle\u00b4 had a lot to do with the production too.  I trust he will be there on the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EDITOR\u00b4S NOTE:\nby Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\npiece is reproduced with permission after first being published in St. Mark\u00b4s\nParish News. Michael Higgins is a poet, who writes his own material and is also\nreader of a wide range of poetry both ancient and modern. I asked him to update\nme on his local arts scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nwill be attending what sounds like fascinating a workshop called Writing The\nDivine in Manchester Cathedral on Saturday 19th<\/sup> October from 10.00\nam till 1.00 pm being facilitated by \u00b4poet and priestess\u00b4 Rachel Mann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Writing The Divine\u00b4\u00b4 is advertised as a workshop\nand discussion,\u00b4 Michael tells me. \u00a8It\u2019s tea and coffee for the 9.30 am early\nbirds, and then a ten o\u00b4clock workshop will be followed by a light sandwich\nlunch. After that there will be a discussion about forming a Rochdale Creative\nWriting Group, possibly to be affiliated to the Association Of Christian\nWriters, which is sponsored by The Diocese of Manchester. Such groups are open\nto Christians of any denomination and the writing itself does not have to be\nabout Christianity. As an awkward Christian rebel I tread warily over these\nsuspiciously laid eggs, but I do think the workshop could be enlightening,\nnotwithstanding my default position of a dislike in general terms for writing\nworkshops. I had far too many of those in my former employment, which probably\nexplains why I enjoy my times with Those Bard From The Baum and with Off The\nRails, the series of events that Robin Parker and I attend.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writers\nwho take a stand-point are always welcomed by The Bard From The Baum, named after\na Rochdale real-ale pub where monthly poetry events are hosted by Robin Parker.\nMichael tells me that the last meeting of the group, on Sunday 13th<\/sup>\nOctober, included a number of Extinction Rebellion themed works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The Baum had around 25 poets and listeners at its\nlast monthly meeting,\u00b4 recalls Michael. \u00b4Lately there have been over thirty\nwith the ukulele band, who began joining us recently, but they were away\nperforming somewhere last time. Some of the political poems were very good\nindeed, albeit one-sided, though some political verse can be very poor. With\nExtinction Rebellion and Brexit on the agenda Anti Extinction Rebellion\ncounter- arguments and alternative Brexit poems were NOT<\/em> forthcoming. I\ndeliberately did not take my anti Extinction Rebellion poem because I hadn\u00b4t expected\nthe Baum evening to be such a political one. How wrong I was.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nthe listed the names of several of our mutual friends who read at that recent\nbard from The Baum event, none of who I have seen in the last five years, but\nll of whom are fondly remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Don\nParry\u00b4s set, with his guitar was non-political and Val and Alfie\u00b4s offerings,\nand those of Eilleen Earnshaw\u00b4s were not of a political nature either,\u00b4 Michael\nexplained. \u00a8Catherine Coward read some work on Peterloo and Robin made strong\npolitical points and Seamus Kelly delivered Extinction Rebellion support and\npieces about climate change. Peter Fitton delivered an anti-Brexit piece so\nthere was some serious to and fro-ing going on. John Leech is a poet who writes\nso often often lost ladies and unrequited love and he sat in a corner letting\nthe voice of protest wash over him as he no doubt fondly remembered all the\ngirls he\u00b4d loved before ! I, too, tried to lighten the tone with a Barrington\nparody and a version of Red River Valley, with Don accompanying me on guitar.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nown memories of co-hosting with Robin Parker of performances by Those Bard From\nThe Baum are of \u00b4how the evenings moved seamlessly from protest to parody to\nhumanity and humour and back again, and its great to know the monthly events\nare still going strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nfact Michael and Robin will next be performing at a poetry gig in Preston on 21st<\/sup>\nOctober. The two regularly meet up for a poetry ramble that sees them take\ntheir words all around the North West Of England. This is the area in which\nRobin has set his series of short monologues that re-locate and reinterpret\nstories from The Bible. There are echoes here of Stanley Holloway and The Lion\nAnd Albert and, of course, of Three \u00b4Alfpence Per Foot, which tells of Noah and\nhis ark. Robin\u00b4s re-writings are compiled in a beautifully presented and\nillustrated hard back book called The Edenfield Scrolls as well as on a cd of\nthe same name, accompanied by folk-lorist and musician Sid Calderbank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin\nParker And Sid Calderbank are also both members of The Edwin Waugh Dialect\nSociety, of which Michael Higgins is currently Chair. The group commemorates\nand perpetuates Waugh\u00b4s work. Born in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1817, Waugh\nbecame an apprenticed printer at twelve years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An\navid reader, Waugh became assistant secretary of The Lancashire Public School\nAssociation and by 1860 was able to become a full time writer. Only twenty\nyears later, however, he was in such poor health that he was granted a civil\nlist pension on ninety pounds per year ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\ndied in 1890 and was buried in St. Paul\u2019s churchyard on Kersal Moor. \u00b4Waugh\u00b4s\nWell\u00b4 was built to commemorate him on the moors above Edenfield, where he had\nspent so much of his time writing. Today\u00b4s members of The Edwin Waugh Dialect\nSociety have made several \u00b4pilgrimages\u00b4 to the site, holding readings of his\nwork over a picnic and a pint when they get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst publications of Waugh\u00b4s work were of sketches of Lancashire and its\ncharacters, written with a similar affection that paintings by Lowry would\nbestow on Salford people almost a century later. These were regularly printed\nin The Manchester Examiner, and his first published book was a collection of\nsuch sketches. In 1859 his Lancashire dialect works were collated in a\ngathering called Poems And Songs that brought him much local acclaim with the\npublic and critics alike, favourably comparing his work and what it was\nachieving for Lancashire with the way Burns and his work had reflected (or\ncreated?) Scotland.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwin\u00b4s\nsurname is pronounced in the dialect of his day as Woffe, as in cough, and\narguably his most famous work is Come Whoam To Thy Childer An\u00b4 Me, which tells\nthe story of a wife trying to persuade her husband to leave the pub and return\nhome; a scene re-interpreted countless times on Coronation Street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nEdwin Waugh Dialect Society of which Michael Higgins is chair and Robin and Sid\nare members was formed in 1938. More than eighty years later, members and new\nvisitors alike are assured  of \u00b4a gradely\nwelcome theer !\u00b4 The EWDS holds annual writing competitions, with trophies\nawarded at the annual \u00b4suppering do.\u00b4 Regular meetings often feature guest\nspeakers or talks and readings by members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncurrent members of EWDS also include Sally James, who writes in both Standard\nEnglish and \u00b4Lankie Dialect\u00b4 and gives readings in either genre. Her poignant\npamphlet, Coal Dust And Confetti is about the harsh realities of life in The\nLancashire Coalfields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTin Pot Poets, who are also members of the EWDS, are Ron and Sally William, who\nusually write in humorous dialect verse but adopt a more serious and topical\napproach when the occasion demands. Profits from their recently recorded CD are\ndirected to the Rossendale And Pendle Mountain Rescue Team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alyson\nBrailsford is a well-known local artist and former librarian. Always smiling\nand much loved figure on the local arts scene Alyson is a fine singer who can\ninterpret traditional and dialect songs. She also gives talks about how those\nwho wrote in Lancashire dialect reflected the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nmember, Betty Lightfoot, also writes and performs her own poems and monologues\nabout childhood memories and current everyday life. Dr. Paul Salveson, another\nmember, has written a book on Women Writers In Dialect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nHiggins is not only Chair of The Edwin Waugh Dialect Society but is also a\nmember of Royton History Society, to which he has given talks on Morris Dancing\nAnd Rushbearing, Rhymes And Songs of The Christian Years, and Peterloo, about\nwhich he spoke to Steve Bewick and I on our all across the arts radio programme\na few years ago. In 2013 he spoke to various other history societies about The\nBattle Of Flodden to commemorate the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nis at heart, though, a reciter, in standard and dialect language, of spoken\npoetry on which he occasionally accompanies himself on a musical instrument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nis, indeed, a quiet man of many talents and his recording telling of Queen Of\nThe Well has also been shown as a puppet show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Higgins & Eileen Earnshaw
reading The Mask Of Anarchy
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nand another wonderful poet from the area recently gave a public reading of\nShelley\u00b4s Mask Of Anarchy, which discusses the Peterloo Massacre indelibly\nassociated with Manchester and wider areas of the North West UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nread the words of the \u00b4narrator\u00b4 whilst Eileen Earnshaw, as Hope, plays the\nmanic or \u00b4maniac\u00b4 maid who tells most of the tale. I know and love Eileen, as\nshe is an occasional contributor to our all\nacross the arts <\/em>pages in The Rochdale Observer and other Manchester Evening\nNews Group outlets. I believe the manic maid to be surely the role she was born\nto play ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The unveiling of The Stone<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The performance took place at the top of Tandle Hill, where Michael also unveiled a new memorial stone in the name of Edwin Waugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds like an incredibly atmospheric and somewhat historic setting and Eileen at least, will be working in a very different but equally evocative setting on Sunday October 20th<\/sup> from 5.30 pm to 9.00 pm. In the cavernous, high on hill church of Saint Mary In The Baum, she and the aforementioned Robin Parker as well as Seamus Kelly and Katie Haigh, two other writers occasionally mentioned in these despatches, will be reading in an event exploring the theme of \u00b4Identity,\u00b4 hosted by Steve Cooke, who runs all across the arts in the UK, along with its off-shoot of Stories We Could Tell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nevent will feature a performance by Sue Devaney, star of Dinner Ladies and who\nrecently appeared in a Coronation Street storyline as Kevin Webster\u00b4s sister. There\nwill also be contributions from individuals like Seamus Kelly, Robin Parker and\nKatie Haigh among ensemble performances by creative writing groups like\nTouchstones Pulling Threads, Weaving Words and Langley Writers. Michael has\npromised to drop us a review of the event, which we will publish here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\ntop of all this kind of work, though, Michael always has to keep his eye on the\nEdwin Waugh Dialect Society syllabus and he tells me that events for the remainder\nof 2019 include a \u00a8Stag Neet\u00b4 in November and that later in the season, in\n2020, Robin Parker will deliver an event called Cockney Capers, recalling his\nchildhood days and perhaps re-visiting his own dialect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So The Edwin\nWaugh Dialect Society continues to speak well (if indecipherably to some of us)\nabout the works of Woffe. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every\nmonth from October to June at 7.30 pm in the St. Andrew\u00b4s Methodist Chapel, in\nRochdale.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is ample\nparking and annual membership is only a fiver with donations, to help defray\nthe cost of room hire, being also gratefully accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their\ncalendar of forthcoming events, says Michael, \u00b4is full of manly virtue and joy\nfrom dialect past.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And tha can be\nsure o\u00b4a gradely welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

POEMS & STORIES: STANDARD & DIALECT By Michael Higgins & Norman Warwick Michael Higgins tells of the reading and recording of The Queen Of The Well: a children\u00b4s talking-book. In September I took part in a recording of The Queen of the Well, a children\u00b4s talking book.The producer, David Chatton Barker, had heard my presentation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}