The Cleveland Work Camps in England were known locally as "Heartbreak Hill". They were a series of short events, staged in the East Cleveland ironstone mining villages of

Boosbeck Boosbeck is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The name is Viking in origin and means "the stream near a cow shed". Between 1878 and 1960, the village had a Boosbeck railway ...

and

Margrove Park Margrove Park is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an are ...

, which ran from 1932 to 1938 with the aim of helping to alleviate the poverty which these mining communities experienced as a result of pit closures during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Notable figures involved with establishing the scheme were the aristocratic landowner Major James Pennyman and his wife Ruth Pennyman, an idealistic young Cambridge University graduate called

Rolf Gardiner Henry Rolf Gardiner (5 November 1902 – 26 November 1971) was an English rural revivalist, helping to bring back folk dance styles including Morris dancing and sword dancing. He founded groups significant in the British history of organic far ...

, Manchester Guardian Journalist David Ayerst and local trade unions. The scheme was ostensibly created to enable the miners, with the help of student volunteers, to cultivate rough moorland with the aim of growing crops and keeping livestock. In addition to these practicalities, music and entertainment events were also staged with the aim of helping the student volunteers integrate with the miners. At the first camp, staged in April 1932, the evening events were run by the German choral teacher Georg Götsch, who taught the miners to sing German baroque music. The renown German puppetee
Harro Seigel
staged puppet shows which accompanied Götsch's music. At the second camp, staged in September 1932, Georg Götsch was replaced as musical director by the composer Michael Tippett. Tippett staged a version of ''

The Beggars Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

'', with local miners performing alongside Tippett's friends,

Francesca Allinson Francesca Allinson (born Enid Ellen Pulvermacher Allinson; 20 August 1902 – 7 April 1945) was an English writer, musician and puppeteer. She was the youngest child of the pioneering physician and wholemeal bread entrepreneur Dr Thomas All ...

and

Wilfred Franks Wilfred Florestan Franks (1908–2003) was a British artist, designer, sculptor, dancer and actor. He married Daphne Rudd in 1951 Biography Franks trained at the Staatliche Bauhochschule (de) in Weimar, Germany from 1929 to 1930. He also atte ...

. It was through the work camps that Tippett met Franks and he later described the relationship as 'The deepest most shattering experience of falling in love'. Immediately after the 1932 camp Tippett began composing his String Quartet No.1 which was dedicated to Franks. 'All that love flowed out in the slow movement of my first string quartet' the composer added. For a later camp of 1934, Tippett wrote Robin Hood (Tippett opera), which was also performed by members of the local mining community (including Marjorie Bradley) as well as Franks, who acted the part of Friar Tuck. One notable member of Tippett's small orchestra was

Frida Knight Frida Knight (1910–1996) was an English communist activist and author. Life Born Frideswide Frances Emma Stewart, and known as Frida, she was the daughter of Hugh Fraser Stewart (1863–1948) and his wife Jessie Graham Crum; her sister Caitin ...

, who played violin. A furniture making project was established to train a group of young miners new employment skills. This furniture making scheme was initiated by Wilfred Franks who had studied furniture making in Germany under the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

master Reinhold Weidensee. The scheme was later developed into a furniture manufacturing business by Bernard Aylward, of Bootham School in York.

References

{{reflist Great Depression in the United Kingdom 1932 establishments in the United Kingdom Redcar and Cleveland