Obit: Angela Lee

Subject: Obit: Angela Lee
From: Sue Allan
Date: 18 May 08 - 05:35 AM

Mudcatters who are involved with clog dancing and morris, or those who've attended clog and step dance workshops at Whitby, Sidmouth and other festivals will probably know Angela Lee of Carlisle Sword, Morris & Clog - they'll certainly know her husband Frank Lee: sword maker and judge at the DERT rapper competition. I'm very sad to report that Angela died very suddenly last weekend. There was no warning: she collapsed after suffering a brain haemorrhage on Friday 9 May, and died the day after in the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle. She was just 63.

Angela will be sorely missed on the clog dancing scene: she was a fantastic teacher as well as a performer, and created many steps and dances herself. Frank and Angela first got involved in dancing in 1975 when Frank joined the very new Carlisle Morris Men, started by myself and my late ex-husband Ed Mycock. Soon after Angela and I got into clog and step dancing, and then in 1978 when I started the Throstles Nest women's morris she was one of the founder members,and continued with the team after I left, before it became subsumed into the Carlisle side.

As well as being a consummate dancer – with both the Carlisle and Hexham teams - Angela was also a very talented musician, particularly on duet concertina, and over the past ten years she had also increasingly become involved in singing. Her voice was very sweet and I used to find her singing often very emotionally affecting.

Angela's creativity was not limited to music and dance though: in many respects it was her expertise and talent in the visual arts which shone out more. She had been head of art at William Howard School in Brampton for many years, but since her retirement two years had been able to really extend and explore her own art practice in textiles: she had for many years been creating embroidered works which were essentially fine art, but latterly was developing her skills in silk painting. After her recent exhibition of silk paintings, which featured in the local paper, she sold a number of works and was actually out negotiating a commission with a customer for some new pieces when she collapsed. She was very excited about the fact that a silk painting magazine was to include an article on her and her work in its next issue, and both her and Frank were really looking forward to seeing her feature in a national publication - recognition at long last of Angela as an artist. Sadly, that magazine will not be out until later this year.

However, most of her friends, myself included, will miss not just her dancing, her singing or her art, but her warm and bubbly personality and her generosity and kindness over many years. We have all lost a wonderful friend.

The funeral will be at Lanercost Priory, near Brampton (Angela's home) in Cumbria at 3pm on Thursday 22 May, and Angela will be buried there alongside members of her family 9who farmed in the area). The funeral will be followed by a social gathering – with music and dance of course – at the ancient Dacre Hall next door to the Priory.

Subject: RE: Obit: Angela Lee
From: open mike
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:42 PM

She sounds like a wonderful person, and your obit shows her to be a talented and creative woman. I hope, in her honor, you will dance on!

Subject: RE: Obit: Angela Lee
From: Pistachio
Date: 18 May 08 - 05:08 PM

Ditto - enjoy your memories.
Hazel

Subject: RE: Obit: Angela Lee
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 19 May 08 - 06:07 AM

All members of Hexham Morrismen, and of our sister team The Hexhamshire Lasses, are deeply shaken by Angela's sudden death, and our hearts go out to Frank in his loss.   But after we have said farewell to Angela on Thursday, we will be celebrating her life and achievements in the way that she would have wanted – with music, dance and song, in conviviality and good fellowship.   Sue's tribute on this thread has already mentioned many of the things which made Angela such a memorable person, but I'd like to add one more – she was a great tourist.
   
Performing at an overseas folk festival is a marvellous experience, but it is sometimes very stressful.   Long journeys, lack of sleep, digestive upsets and unexpected changes to the schedule can all wear you down. Then there's the nerve-jangling wait backstage before you go out to do or die for five minutes in front of a live audience of hundreds - or sometimes a TV audience of thousands. The stress is enhanced by the knowledge that many other acts on the bill are not amateurs like you, but highly trained (and state funded) professionals. Understandably, some people find all this hard to deal with – but never Angela.

Angela was an absolute rock on all the Hexham tours.   When performing herself, when reassuring others who were about to perform, or when dealing calmly with all the minor problems that arose while we were on the road, she could always be relied upon to do or say the right thing at the right time, with the minimum amount of fuss. We will miss her terribly, but we will all carry fond memories of her forward with us, as we do our best to keep celebrating the music, dances and songs that she cared about so much.

Wassail!