‘My wife had gone down with one of our kids who lives in London to see the Woodcraft exhibition in East London. And also Gabriel who’s one of our DFs now at University in Leeds had, I think been part of it in Manchester. So It was really important that we had it here.’
I was talking to Dave from Newcastle, organiser of ‘100 Objects Spanning 100 Years‘ Woodcraft Exhibition in Newcastle City Library. This was one of many additional exhibitions we supported because members wanted to host their own exhibition locally.
‘So it [The Exhibition] was in Glasgow, which is not that far [3 hours drive!]. We hired a van and we got up there and met some of the Woodcraft people there, which was really good.’
Woodcraft roots in Anti-Fascism
‘I’ve got granddaughter, I found a group and we went to it. She’s loved it and she’s still involved in it. We got involved, about two years ago. So that’s the beginning of my actual involvement with Woodcroft Folk. Two years ago…It almost starts [with anti-fascism], It almost comes from that, in a way. I think I hadn’t known about that and it’s one of those things where you go, well why didn’t I know?’
‘It’s still about building communities, that have some resilience against austerity and, and fascism…I saw photographs of our DFs with the other Woodcraft People [at the Together against the Far Right Demo] and yeah, I was immensely proud to see that. They wouldn’t have done that if it hadn’t been for Woodcraft.’
Playing Games and Acts of Solidarity
“You know, people are very isolated nowadays and people I think they are really frightened of their kids going out and seeing other people and doing things outside the family home. The world is a much more frightening place than it was. Physical solidarity is also about playing games in fields. You learn the exercise of how to actually work with each other. I couldn’t have gone and broken through a kettle [police line] in the 80s if I hadn’t been playing games in fields in the recreation ground! That’s the building block. That’s where you’ve learnt the muscles of resilience and rebellion.”
Education for Social Change at Newcastle City Library
I’d been talking to people who I know work in Newcastle Library, and they were enthusiastic. They didn’t know about Woodcraft Folk and they would go, ‘What’s this all about? ‘
‘I had loads of people come from old Woodcraft groups, people came, they were still involved who look after our Marque and our Field kitchen in Ryton and all those things that the districts had for years and years. Great enthusiasm and great friendship, bringing amazing things that they’ve had in their loft and in their garages and in their cupboards.’
‘We’ve been doing this for 100 years’
“People were going, ‘What’s this? People didn’t do that in the 50s, there’s someone being ‘woke’ in the 20s.’ And yet there they were. We’ve been doing this for 100 years. We’ve been being ‘woke,’ or whatever. It’s a way of reminding people that this is our culture…It’s more diverse than people think it is and having a history of Woodcraft is a way of reminding people that actually, ordinary people have actually celebrated their diversity for a long, long time.’
‘We really are, you know, actually a fantastic place for people who are neurodiverse. Who don’t fit gender stereotypes. Maybe they’re not feeling at home, at school or other friendship groups. But also what we’re good at is making sure that we don’t just become that. We are a place where everyone is involved, it’s important that. And you know that those things are celebrated in a place that’s open to everyone, that’s really important…they [Early Woodcraft] were working class, they wanted to go out and go camping, but also not be part of something that was hierarchical and class driven, racist or whatever. So, It’s going back, keeping that route in a way.’
Libraries as the Place to Be
‘Libraries now are actually more about people sorting out their visas, housing and their homelessness. It’s less about books than it is about about every day sort of need. So when you open the doors they come rushing up the stairs and they were the people who are looking at it. They want to have a chat about other things, and in the evening there’s all the kids who haven’t got a key to their house. They come out of School, and in particular on that floor, young working class kids in their school uniforms playing and studying and flirting and laughing. They were the ones who were looking at it as well and asking about it. And some of them are actually our members as well. I think a lot of kids go like, ‘what’s this all about then’ and yeah, they come from very diverse backgrounds.’
‘People came from Leeds, all over. We had a little group, Woodchips and Elfins, they came instead of having their meeting in a in a Methodist Church Hall in Wylam. We did our Circle, you know, our hands together to make a circle and did that loudly with all these little kids! People were going, ‘What’s that about?’ It was amazing because you’ve got an exhibition of images and an exhibition of, you know, what we do.’
The Future: Self-Organization and New Frontiers
‘I think we really at a place where we could actually build groups and districts in areas where we don’t actually have any presence and that we need to make our presence felt. And I guess it’s how we do that. I want to build a group in Middlesbrough, in neighbouring cities and counties. And telling those stories…I keep coming back to that.’
‘I mean, my first involvement in any of this sort of stuff was when I was like 15 or 16. And I know it’s a different…that sort of Anarchist, Punk, sort of scene in the sort of 1980 because we were actually quite young. We would just put gigs on in in other villages, you know, it was always in a very working class community and it was very much a working class thing. But we didn’t think about the fact, we were quite young. We just sort of went and we put a gig on and then other people would turn up and people got excited about it and I don’t know. There’s some, there’s some similarity about this sort of youth self-organization.’
Since Camp 100 two new groups have started in the North East – Dave, other leaders and young people there are planning many more. I’d like to thank Dave for his time interviewing and managing our exhibition in Newcastle, and all the volunteers who have brought ‘100 Objects Spanning 100 Years’ and the 100 and many more stories we now have thanks to their work.
Please see our newly completed resources with more images from Newcastle (thanks Mia Chapman for work bringing this together!)
https://sites.google.com/woodcraft.org.uk/100-objects-spanning-100-years
