Introducing: A Treasury of Tyneside Tales

Concept art for the Giant Crankie Show by Becky Silk

Moving Parts Arts is currently delivering A Treasury of Tyneside Tales — an ambitious community heritage project celebrating the stories and voices of Tyneside residents, as well as local folklore. Over the coming months, we will continue to work with 100 intergenerational participants from across Tyneside to create hand-crafted Crankies to be exhibited at the Great North Museum in April 2026. Alongside this exhibition, we will produce a professional outdoor Crankie show for family audiences. This new show will feature a giant Crankie, which will support a 30-minute performance inspired by Tyneside folklore and community stories, including live music and storytelling. The project is funded through National Lottery Heritage Fund, Community Foundation North East/Newcastle City Council (Newcastle Cultural Investment Fund) and Hays Travel.

Introducing: Jonluke McKie - Project Lead

Hello there. I’m Jonluke, project lead on A Treasure of Tyneside Tales, with Moving Parts Arts.

This project involves 100 intergenerational participants from across Tyneside, exploring local folklore and oral histories, as we each hand-craft a ‘Crankie Machine’

“WHAT’S A CRANKIE??” I hear you shout. It’s a traditional story-telling device, essentially a box with a screen cut into the front, across which an illustrated scroll is pulled using a crank. It’s a gorgeous, traditional tool for bringing stories to life, and we’ve already been wowed by the incredible stories participants are creating.

Participants from The Bostey Youth Project construct their crankie theatres

We’re working with the Great North Museum and fabulous folklorist and storyteller David Silk, along with groups from The Bostey, Curious Arts, Shieldfield Youth Programme, the Elders Council and NE Youth. The creativity and generosity of the people we work with never ceases to amaze me – we’ve had stories of rescue missions in the Tyne, terrifying dreams, greeting new family members, goodbyes to beloved pets to name but a few – Not to mention a few mentions of the vampire rabbit and a ghost headmaster. We’re just at the start of this project, and the treasure we’re uncovering is already blowing my mind!

Participants from The Bostey Youth Project and The Elders Council working on their crankie storyboards.

A participant from The Bostey Youth Project explores local folklore in the Great North Museum archives

By the end of this project we will have created over 100 Crankies with participants which will be exhibited in the Great North Museum over the Easter Holiday, exploring local folklore and local stories of people of all ages. We’re also going to be building a GIANT CRANKIE for a professional performance inspired by our participant’s stories.

Watch this space to find out more, I can’t wait to share this project with everyone as it unfolds.

The project is funded through National Lottery Heritage Fund, Community Foundation North East/Newcastle City Council (Newcastle Cultural Investment Fund) and Hays Travel.