Jackie Oates

Marlow Museum will host multi award-winning and hugely influential contemporary folk musicians Jackie Oates and John Spiers in 'Lace - A Musical Celebration' at 7pm on 5th July 2025, All Saints Church, Marlow. This fundraising concert will weave the story of 400 years of lacemaking in Marlow through lace 'tells' and spoken word with interludes of exquisite English folk music performed by Jackie Oates and John Spiers, supported by fellow Melodeon player Roger Watson. It will explore how lace making shaped local communities; from the hardships of the dextrous child lace maker through to entrepreneurial merchants and aristocratic fashion. This occasion is the highlight of Marlow Museum’s summer events programme that accompanies the FREE exhibition ‘Lace: from William Borlase to Pamela Nottingham’. This display particularly focuses on the story of renowned Marlow-born lacemaker, and long-time supporter of the museum, Pamela Nottingham, who was instrumental in reviving the art of lacemaking in the UK. Followers of British folk music will be familiar with Jackie and John through their regular collaborations. Their work as a duo began when the pair first started playing together for fun during guest spots at a local folk club in Henley-on-Thames. Recognising the potential, they began working together on material from their native county of Oxfordshire. Following their first performances in 2016, they went on to tour and perform at folk festivals in the UK, releasing their first full length studio album, ‘Needle Pin, Needle Pin’ in 2020.