Making a clippie mat

Any Blipper in the North East will know where I was today.

The Northern Branch of the Documentary Group of the RPS met at Beamish (The Living Museum of the North). We arrived before 10am and I was surprised to see how many other people were there for opening too.

There were bus loads of primary school children, all equipped for educational projects.

The Museum was opened in 1970 and is an open air museum telling the life of the north east from 1820s to 1930s, 40s and 50s. There are little streets of houses and shops, all reconstructed from the originals. Volunteers and staff tell the tales of the different parts.

In this tiny cottage, a man is demonstrating the art of clippie or proggy mat making. My aunties and grandma all had these sort of rag rugs on their floors.

I have a strong suspicion that men did not usually make them......

I had a great time and explored only the main town and the pit village. I will have to return to see the rest. I was there in the early 1970s when the place had just opened and was tiny. I did not recognise it now.

Tonight I went to see the National Theatre Live's production of Good. This is on at cinemas around this time. It is BRILLIANT and very thought provoking.

The playwright, C P Taylor, was a Scot who lived in the Newcastle area. Sadly he took ill after the first performance in London and died soon afterwards. David Tennant plays the main role with excellent acting from Eliot Levey, as his Jewish friend Maurice, and Sharon Small as his wife and his lover. The production is tight and claustrophobic. You will be left with a lot to think about.