Arts

1. A flan tin? 2. An X-ray photograph of our galaxy? 3. Marks on a drawing board? 4. Bacilli trails seen under an electron microscope? Find the answer at the end of the article. HOW to make the ordinary extraordinary using light, colour and a camera. That was the task Read More

Judy Dinning describes music as the backbone of her life. That and her family and friends who have always offered support during her hour of need. OF all the hundreds of songs that Judy Dinning has written and sung over the years, there’s one that she treasures above all. Fine Read More

Folk music goes hand in hand with beards and woolly jumpers doesn’t it? Not in Stocksfield where a group of young musicians are keeping the tradition alive. DID you know that folk tunes composed by shepherds tending their flocks on windswept Northumbrian fells are today played by Read More

Rapper Chris Fawcett was 16 when a careers adviser told him he would never get a job in music. Today, he’s teaching songwriting to youngsters and has become one of Hexham’s rising stars, with 210,000 views to date on his YouTube channel. YOU can’t buy a CD of Chris Fawcett’s Read More

West Wylam lad Billy Mitchell formed his first band when he was 15 and embarked on a long musical career which led to him joining North-East legends – Lindisfarne. Today, he’s still making music as well as making people laugh with his comic talents. IT TOOK two phone calls, 25 Read More

She’s the small girl with the big voice. A voice that is making Tessa Smith a household name in the world of jazz. IN a blue polka dot dress splashed with pink roses, bare-legged with plimsolls on her feet, Tessa Smith looks like a teenager on her first date. But then she starts Read More

Two artists have been finding inspiration for their art projects in the river valleys and hills of Tynedale. EVERYTHING we do is a sensory experience. And everyone who’s studied human biology at an advanced level – ie has read The Beezer comic – knows that we have small people Read More

He has taken centre stage at the world famous La Scala opera house in Italy and earned a standing ovation at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden, but bass singer Graeme Danby has never forgotten his roots back in Tynedale. AS captain of Prudhoe High School’s rugby team, Graeme Danby Read More

First there was George Formby… now there’s the Hexham Uketeers! IS it possible to play a sad song on the ukulele? Hexham’s ukulele band, the Uketeers, have tried it – and have had to concede defeat. “We just end up sounding ironic,” said Uketeer Ian Allan. There is no Read More