A Bit about Kate Goodall.
One of 5 children, Kate was born and bred in Cumbria. Having lived in Carlisle until the age of 10 she then moved to Silloth due to her father’s job in the District Bank. Singing has always figured as an important part of Kate’s life but this shouldn’t have been any great surprise as Kate’s great grandfather, from her Dad’s side, and her grandmother, from Mum’s side, were both trained opera singers and her Mum Jenny sang in a jazz band. Kate’s public singing first started in the local choirs at church and in school. Despite Kate’s early promise on the piano, if only she had practiced more, it was the viola that got her first noticed as a budding musician when, as a teenager, she was selected to play with the National Youth Orchestra .
Still in her early teens, Kate moved to Bootle Station, on the Cumbrian West Coast, and began learning the guitar. She belonged to the local amateur operatic society and performed in their pantomimes and annual shows. Kate starting singing in old folks homes and for charitable events and by the time she was 17 she began her first weekly gigs singing in the Station Hotel in Millom. Here she shared the live stage with a brilliant guitarist singer called Billy Hall. Billy sang solo for most of the evening then followed by Kate, performing. After a while they started to sing a few numbers together. Kate’s reputation grew and she went on to sing at various venues throughout the Lake District and along the West coast of Cumbria both with Billy as a duet and on her own as a solo artist.
Her love of music and her beloved Cumbria gave her the enthusiasm to start writing folk songs about the Lake District and local social history, this was the early 1970s that witnessed the end of the industrial iron-ore mining in South West Cumbria. She was invited by BBC to perform her own composition, “Millom Lament,” on a television documentary about the effects on the town and residents of Milloms Ironworks closing down.
The Harbour Hotel in Haverigg was a regular venue for her folk singing and gave Kate a platform to try out some of her songs relevant to the area. In a twist of fate, the Harbour is now owned by Kate’s brother Chris. By this time Kate was working full time at K shoes and balanced performing locally with a full time job.
In 1974 Kate left Cumbria to join the Womens Royal Air Force. She trained as an Air traffic Control Assistant and was posted to Lyneham in Wiltshire. Throughout the training she continued to sing and play the guitar (mostly for charity events). She joined the RAF Lyneham’s Theatre group and performed, directed, produced and wrote plays. Including musicals. She continued to write and perform in front of friends and appeared in pubs in the local area of Wiltshire and appeared on local TV singing her songs.
She was posted to Gibraltar and continued to spend her leisure time singing and performing. Venues included various hotels on the Rock, the Navy mess, BFBS Television folk programme and also appeared in the Gib Folk Fest 1976. She belonged to the local theatre company in Gibraltar and appeared in Pantomime and theatre.
In 1977 she returned to RAF Lyneham and married her husband of 38 years who was also based at Lyneham. Knowing the local folk scene and theatre clubs it was easy to fall back into the groove with her music and songs. She became involved with Community drama at the Wyvern theatre Swindon and the Jolliffe theatre in the Old Town of Swindon. Still continuing with the Lyneham Stage Club. She also appeared on local radio and television singing her own work. She became involved in competitive drama and started writing one act plays for entry into festivals and competitions.
In 1979 she landed a shared presenter job in a BFBS TV Saturday morning programme pilot programme. They were given the go ahead for 10 more episodes and filming should have taken place during the 3-day working week enforced because of the striking unions in the Winter of discontent. Unfortunately, the TV scheduling was badly affected and the production company could not create the 10 programmes in time and so the whole programme was cancelled. Disappointing to say the least.
In the 1980s Kate moved to Suffolk and got herself an agent who immediately found work for her in the local area. A very productive time for her. She joined the local theatre club and formed a Youth theatre which was still going strong when she handed over the reins to an associate of the theatre club. Moving to West Germany with her husband and 9 month old son Kate joined a local British theatre club and became involved in all aspects of the theatre. Again she formed a Youth club and acted , produced, directed throughout the time she lived in Germany. Among many successes her Coup D’etat was directing the musical Stepping Out which, won awards in every competition it was entered into. She also managed to produce her second son!
Next stop was Belgium. Wasting no time here she joined a local chorale society and met a Belgium guy who was also a singer songwriter. They formed a duo and sang at various venues throughout the Ardennes. Kate also found work teaching English through music and drama over the border in France and at the local grammar school working closely with the English Teacher. She produced and directed 3 plays for the Belgian students to perform in English. Writing the final play herself from characters that the young adults wanted to portray. This play was performed again 18 months later by another school that had been to see the production and enjoyed watching it. Interestingly enough, they were trying to raise funds for a school visit to the Lake District in Cumbria.
Back in the 90s Kate returned to UK, this time to live in Lincolnshire and then moving back to her beloved Cumbria, in 2004 to live in Carlisle. It was here that she heard that the local Folk Museum in Millom were trying to get in touch with her because they wanted to record some of the local living history songs that she had written about Cumbria years before.
A professionally recorded CD was made of her songs and was released. “I Lived There Once,” is the title and if you visit the newly named Discovery Centre in Millom, Cumbria, you can press a button and hear Kate singing about the area. Maybe you are planning a trip around the Cumbrian West Coast , if so you could buy her CD from the Heritage Centre and listen to Kate singing about the areas you are visiting.
Travel had become a huge part of Kate’s life and during her next trip to Germany she met a talented young man who helped record more of her songs. A year in Germany flew by and Kate and family moved yet again, this time to live in the deep South of the USA, the home of Dixie. Kate wrote a few more songs while living in Montgomery Alabama and they are currently being recorded.
The vast beauty and social differences across the USA and Canada inspired Kate to write more poems and prose while travelling to different areas. It was whilst in Montreal that she was inspired to write “The Homeless of Montreal.” Kate still has the wanderlust and regularly visits her husband who is currently working in the UAE.
The above reflects Kate’s musical journey; however, Kate has also embarked on a spiritual journey and the two fall nicely hand in hand. Her spiritual journey really began in 1997 when she started her 2 years of training to become a spiritual healer. In 2001 Kate qualified as a Reiki Master. She always had a very deep love and affinity to Crystals, stones and nature that had been an obsession of hers since her days living near the sea and fells in Cumbria. She now teaches classes which help people to understand about the energies of Crystals and how to use them to help in their everyday lives. In addition to these classes she taught (and continues to teach) Meditation, Relaxation and numerous other subjects.
From Cumbria through Europe and to Alabama, USA and in many different towns and countries over the years, Kate has run Workshops on Self -Healing, The Importance of Colour and finding the Keys to Your Own Wellness. In essence Kate has become a Spiritual Life Coach and has ignited the spark of Creative Potential for many people throughout her own life journey.
