Celebrating the Salmon

This July saw the return of the annual Horncliffe Beer and Music Festival, a weekend celebrating local music, food and beer, organised by the village residents under the banner of Horncliffe Events.

Horncliffe is a small yet bustling village full of a huge sense of fun, year-round community-led activities and a can-do attitude that honours the cultural history of the village. This year, Connecting Threads was invited to participate by running a cultural programme emphasising the village’s proximity to the River Tweed and, in particular, the legacy of the net salmon fisheries that for so long sustained livelihoods in the village.

Artist and illustrator Morvern Graham led a series of workshops and events throughout the festival, bringing her knowledge of the folk tales, songs and magic of the mighty salmon. Morvern began with a giant salmon puppet-making workshop, and as ever, the Horncliffers embraced the creativity head-on. By the end of the day, they had composed an entirely new song, an ode to the salmon, to be sung whilst parading the salmon puppet around the village during the festivities, an echo of the annual winter Horncliffe Salmon Procession which we also participated in earlier in the year. (You can watch our commissioned film of the 2024 Salmon Procession here!).

During the weekend, Morvern ran a printmaking workshop for festival attendees, using specially prepared linocuts to create flags depicting salmon and fishing-related folk imagery. It was lovely chatting to people about their memories of fishing the Tweed, apprenticing on the nets, the salmon run and even the occasional cautionary poaching tale, as they made their prints throughout the weekend. Each day, we paraded the salmon puppet through the village, waving our flags and singing the salmon song, and paused overlooking the Tweed at the site of the nearest net fishery, long abandoned.

Alongside our contribution, a full line-up of local and national musicians played throughout both days, including an acoustic stage in the village green (a particular highlight was the Alnwick Pipers, a group of Northumbrian Pipers who shared their repertoire of Northumbrian and Borders tunes) and an electric stage in the Horncliffe Memorial Hall. We especially enjoyed hearing local organiser, musician and all-round legend Nick Allmark playing in his capacity as lead guitarist in The Salmon City Blues Band, and as frontman in his own band The Longship.

As much as the Horncliffe Beer and Music Festival is about fun and entertainment (and beer!), it is also an important reminder of the need to connect and share stories, particularly in a rural community where a major local industry has ended and its associated cultural heritage is slowly slipping downstream. The celebration of the salmon goes far beyond a fish; it is about honouring working history, the river, an ecosystem, and determination against the odds.