This website forms part of 'Hook Into The Past', a project dedicated to the memories of mat making in (mainly) the North East of England.

It developed through artists' work with patients at the Northern Centre For Cancer Care (NCCC) in Newcastle upon Tyne, and extended its remit and ambitions thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Northern Rock.

On this site you will find extracts from audio and video interviews, together with written transcripts.

The interviews can also be accessed through public archives at Beamish Open Air Museum and the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn Museum.

If you want more, why not buy our DVD (£3.50, please contact us) or our 'Hook Into The Past publication (£9 from Tyne Bridge Publishing)?

We hope you will find the site easy to use, and the memories interesting and inspiring!

And if you have a story to tell, an image to share, or if you would like to purchase the DVD, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Book Launch at Newcastle City Library, November 2011

Mary Jennings (RFY Facilitator), Mark Mulqueen (RFY Arts Co-ordinator), Silvie Fisch (RFY Heritage Project Co-ordinator), Susan Lamb (NCCC Radiotherapy Service Manager), Ivor Crowther (Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, North East), Ali Rhind (RFY Artist), Rachel Phillimore (RFY Steering Group), Germaine Stanger (RFY Steering Group).

Photograph: John Hipkin