Song, dance and memory in the Land of Lead and Silver

Dance and movement artist, Amanda Drago, delivered a series of folk song and seated dance workshops as part of the Land f Lead and Silver project’s 2025 community arts programme. The workshops engaged a group of around ten women aged 70-90, many with dementia or health conditions, from the Alston Ladies Social Group, and were supported by musician and facilitator, Lindsay Hannon, and musician/sound engineer, Kit Haigh.

Amanda researched traditional songs from the North Pennines that reflected the lives of lead miners, such as ‘Four pence a day’, ‘Bonny moorhen’ and ‘Meet me Molly’. In Lindsay’s singing sessions, the group learnt songs by ear, discussed the lyrics, and shared memories.

“We’ve taken it quite seriously as a rehearsal – we’ve gone back over lyrics, we’ve changed lyrics where we’ve needed to, we’ve looked at the key of certain things so we could all engage as best as possible with the music.” Lindsay Hannon

Amanda facilitated movement sessions, choreographing and co-creating accessible seated dances inspired by traditional English folk dance. The participants were active contributors to the sessions offered opportunities for social connection and creative expression while bringing new life to forgotten local folk traditions.

“Dancing is a sociable pastime and, actually, dancing in a group is fun. That’s what they want to do … be engaged and enthused about their day, having done something enlightening and creative.” Amanda Drago

Over the six months of the project, the group built up a repertoire of dances and songs. Watch a film abut the project below.

The event was part of the Land of Lead and Silver project, run by the North Pennines National Landscape team and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, and Historic England. The project aims to discover stories and features from the lead and silver mining history of the North Pennines National Landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark and offers opportunities for people to get involved.