Lowestoft Folk

It’s not always easy to describe what goes on in a Lowestoft Folk session – there are just so many things happening, from making things and helping one another to learning new skills and hearing about old ones. Take a look for yourself by watching the Lowestoft Folk Sea Shanty film Last Friday was our […]

Over the last few weeks, the Lowestoft Folk group has been mending, singing and making the most beautiful objects, to use in their shadow puppet theatre. Sessions begin with a bit of traditional knot tying – as the children gather round to tie pieces of net together. There’s usually a song going on – often […]

Back from the half term break, and the Lowestoft Folk quickly got down to work. First, the children showed residents the drawings they’d made during their visit to the Lowestoft Maritime Museum just before half term. After that, everyone got to draw – this time to music. Artist Kate played a selection of music, all […]

This half term, Lowestoft Folk delivered the Cabinet of Curiosity to the Record Office at Lowestoft Library. If you don’t know already, the Cabinet has six small drawers, each lined with gold leaf, and each drawer contains a hint relating to parts of the collections held by Lowestoft Museum. And so, by way of introduction, […]

Just before half term, the children taking part in Lowestoft Folk visited Lowestoft Maritime Museum, in search of folk art and strange words. They were wonderfully assisted by Colin (one of the Museum volunteers) and artists Kate and Lynn, who sent the children off in search of specific treasures. First, they had to make observational […]

Last week saw the Lowestoft Folk celebration event for residents at Hildesley Court and pupils from Pakefield Primary school  – and what a celebration it was. The afternoon started with residents creating fortune tellers in which they wrote good luck messages for the pupils; by the time the pupils arrived, there was a real buzz […]

Last week, we visited Britten Court, to run an introductory session for residents and learn a little about their connections to Lowestoft – and what an amazing session it turned out to be. From stories about working as a braider for the Great Grimsby Coal, Salt and Tanning Company, which was by the Bethel, where […]

It was lovely to meet some of the children at Roman Hill Primary School last Friday, where we started a brand new programme of Lowestoft Folk. The school was so welcoming and Ms Whiting really made us feel at home – we can’t wait to go back this week. We also welcomed artist Kate Munro, who […]

“It was brilliant – just brilliant!!” The final Lowestoft Folk session at Hildesley Court was a delight; finishing off the work, enjoying the Christmas decorations, the room buzzed with excitement and activity. It was also an opportunity to find out what the participants felt about taking part in the project – and what they’d learnt […]

Lowestoft Folk really went for it yesterday – with a session at Broadlands in the morning, to introduce everyone to the Cabinet of Curiosity, and then a creative session at Hildesley Court in the afternoon, with much folding and decorating of our ‘Suffolk Puffs’. It was lovely to be back at Broadlands and see so […]

It was lovely seeing everyone at Hildesley Court yesterday where, with a just a few weeks of Lowestoft Folk remaining, we were soon hard at work, creating images of Lowestoft Folk art – and each other. Using wax crayons, pastels and indelible ink, everyone set to, drawing the person opposite them, their names, and then […]

Just before half term, the pupils taking part in Lowestoft Folk visited Lowestoft Museum, to look at examples of folk art. Museum volunteers were on hand to take part in the activities, as artists Caitlin and Vicki set the children off to look at patterns and materials and find their favourite pieces – which they […]

Last week, the group selected scraps of fabric and made up some fabulous stories about where they might have come from and who wore them, including one about a nightdress mislaid during the War, a veil that was too long, a black dress worn by a sailor’s widow, and a cushion, chewed up by the […]

Lowestoft Folk stories come from all sorts of places; yesterday, they came from small squares of fabric. Inspired by the Suffolk Puff quilt on display in Lowestoft Museum, the group set about making their own patchwork of stories, both real and imagined. Lynn Whitehead led the group, as we explored a variety of different types […]

As well as the story bags and fortune tellers, we also got to sing a lot in the Lowestoft Folk session. First of all, Lynn taught the group a traditional folk song, all about going out fishing on a stormy night; you can listen to it here: – Lynn also made up a special Museum […]

Last week, the students from Pakefield Primary school came along to Hildesley Court Sheltered Housing Unit, to meet the residents taking part in Lowestoft Folk. The session started with a story, created and told by Lynn Whitehead, that involved lots of singing and working out of clues, as the principle characters explored Lowestoft Museum, in […]

This week we held our second preparatory session at Pakefield Primary School, getting the group of nine pupils ready to meet residents at Hildesley Court. Their first job was to paint their Lowestoft Folk Story Bags – using rollers, dabbers and copious amounts of brightly coloured acrylic paint – and they managed to do it […]

We’re off. Yesterday, we started the second iteration of the Lowestoft Folk project, this time at Pakefield Primary School. Thank you to everyone there who made us feel so welcome, particularly Mrs Starling, who will be working with us on the sessions, and to all the children, who were fabulous; Caitlin and I can’t wait to […]

Our thanks to Katy McNamara and Lowestoft Rising for inviting us to take along a little bit of Lowestoft Folk and be part of the Ageing Well Fair, held at the Community Church in Pakefield on 11th September. Inspired by the beautiful porcelain china on display at Lowestoft Museum, our regular artist Caitlin Howells invited […]

As part of the national Heritage Open Day programme, Lowestoft Folk teamed up with Lowestoft Museum, and ran a creative workshop and story telling event – in which the Cabinet of Curiosity took centre stage. Inspired by the beautiful tap work created by shoemaker, Harry Peck, artist Caitlin Howells invited visitors to make their own […]

The Cabinet of Curiosity is really sparking the interest of visitors to Lowestoft Museum – not least because of the beautiful Victorian outfits worn by Patricia and Phoebe, both from the Making Waves Together project. Patricia and Phoebe have taken the Cabinet out into the Nicholas Everitt Park and used it to introduce visitors to […]

Lowestoft Museum has just received a brand new exhibit – the Cabinet of Curiosity – thanks to our Lowestoft Folk project, and the creativity and stories contributed by children from Oulton Broad Primary School and residents at Broadlands Residential Care Home. Lowestoft Folk, brings together different generations to explore the folk art heritage and associated […]

What a great day it was on Saturday, when Lowestoft Folk took part in the annual Lowestoft Festival. Lowestoft Museum brought banners and displays, whilst Lowestoft Folk ran craft activities and story telling sessions – and unveiled the Cabinet of Surprises (a working title) to the public for the first time. The Cabinet was introduced […]

It was wonderful to see so many families and friends gathered at Broadlands Residential Care Home last week, when we celebrated all the beautiful work created by residents and pupils from Oulton Broad Primary School during the course of Lowestoft Folk. There was a special Lowestoft Folk Tale, much singing – and a great many […]

With just one week left to go, everyone is very busy making images of some of their favourite things from Lowestoft Museum – and this week it was particularly magical, as artist Vicki Johnson introduced the group to the mysteries of cyanotype printing.

Back in February, the children visited Lowestoft Museum, where they drew images of their favourite characters and took photographs of items in the collections. They shared these images with residents at Broadlands and, with the help of artists Caitlin Howells and Vicki Johnson, the group has now made a series of modern-day puppets, including fishermen, […]

  It’s been great fun bringing children and care home residents together for the first time this month to explore Lowestoft’s folk heritage. The children have already found out so much from the adults, and so many snippets of family customs and traditions have been shared. This month, the first pairing of the project saw […]

But inside the Lowestoft Folk group is singing sunshine. We had a lovely session at Broadlands Care Home yesterday, during which the children quizzed the residents about old phrases and sayings, including why a stitch in time might save nine, and why gift horses should never have their mouths inspected. We’ll be taking a break […]

For this Lowestoft Folk session, our creative writer Lynn Whitehead got the children interviewing the adults about childhood traditions, memories – and the sorts of things they collected when they were young. Lynn also composed a song, all about the sorts of things they would like to find at the local museum – which everyone […]

Oulton Broad Primary School children taking part in the Lowestoft Folk project visited residents at Broadlands Care Home on Tuesday afternoon where, as well as enjoying a gripping story all about Lowestoft Museum from professional story teller Liam Carroll, the children showed off their own, personalised story bags. The bags were created with artist Caitlin […]

In looking for images of old Lowestoft, I came across the Francis Frith website, full of fabulous photographs of places and people in Lowestoft. Here’s one of my favourites, a beautifully crafted mini-lifeboat, for giving children pony rides around the town.

On Wednesday we visited Broadlands Care Home, to introduce ourselves to the residents and tell them a little bit about Lowestoft Folk. We reckoned the ideal way to introduce ourselves would be over a nice cup of tea, and so we went armed with teapots and cosies, caddies and bags of leaf tea, teaspoons and […]

What a lovely session yesterday at Oulton Broad Primary School – and how hard the children worked, creating their story bags and these lovely little Lowestoft Folk, which they will be giving to residents at Broadlands Care Home when we all meet up next week.

We’re thrilled to announce the start of a brand new project – Lowestoft Folk – bringing local school children and older people together through a series of artist-led programmes which celebrate Lowestoft’s folk heritage. Our artists will be working with primary schools, residential homes and in close partnership with Lowestoft Museum and the Maritime Museum, […]

Lowestoft Folk – Call out for Artists We are inviting artists to register their interest in our new intergenerational folk arts project based in Lowestoft. The project, called Lowestoft Folk, will work with primary school children and residents from local care homes / sheltered housing schemes to explore artefacts and their stories from Lowestoft and […]