Music lecture theatre renamed in honour of inspirational retired lecturer and ‘Bagpuss’ songwriter
Newcastle University recently welcomed retired academic Sandra Kerr back to campus to celebrate the opening of a lecture theatre and performance space named in her honour.
30 September 2025
Celebrating an inspirational educator, performer and campaigner on campus
Newcastle University recently unveiled the newly-named Sandra Kerr Lecture Theatre in recognition of the impact made by Sandra during her 25 years on campus.
This is one in a series of physical space name changes that honour the legacy — and ongoing impact — of individuals who have played an inspirational and influential role on teaching, research, and the cultural life of Newcastle University.
A distinguished folk career
Sandra joined Newcastle University in 2001 as a Lecturer, making an immense contribution to the education of colleagues and students in the School of Arts and Cultures.
She has had a long and distinguished career in folk music since her days with Ewan MacColl’s Critics Group. She has performed all over the world, and recorded numerous albums, as well as being a co-writer of the music for "Bagpuss” alongside John Faulkner.
Sandra is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, dulcimer, autoharp, and the English concertina. She is well-known as a tutor on the latter instrument and has taught regularly at concertina gatherings, including the ‘Swaledale Squeeze’ and ‘Concertinas at Whitney’, as well as twice at the National Folk Festival Easter School in Canberra. She also directs folk choirs (including the popular and award-winning Northumbrian Choir Werca’s Folk) and is greatly respected as a tutor of folk arts.
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My female colleagues have always been among the most inspiring and diligent in the department. I should like to dedicate the Sandra Kerr Theatre to them and hope they will accept it with my admiration and thanks.
Celebrating musical education at Newcastle University
At a special event celebrating Sandra, and to officially open the newly-named lecture theatre and events space, staff and students gathered in King’s Hall to enjoy a vibrant showcase of musical performances. Sandra commented:
"I'm hugely honoured that the University has seen fit to name one of its lecture theatres after me, though a little overwhelmed!
"For the last 25 years I have been privileged to work, either in post or as a visiting lecturer, in the music department of Newcastle University. I have valued enormously the knowledge and talent of my colleagues and their support and friendship, and the opportunity I've had to help develop the young musicians and singers here.
"My female colleagues, one of whom is my own daughter, Nancy Kerr Elliott, have always been among the most inspiring and diligent in the department. I should like to dedicate the Sandra Kerr Theatre to them and hope they will accept it with my admiration and thanks."
The event was a celebration of the breadth of musical talent and opportunities to learn at Newcastle University, but also a way to recognise the diversity the department enjoys - in both musical styles and performers.
This diversity is the bedrock of the Inspiring People and Newcastle University project – an initiative that aims to recognise a wider range of influential people who have played a key role in inspiring staff and students, past and present from our university.
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The history of Music at Newcastle University
In 1890, the musician and Bach scholar Charles Sanford Terry joined Durham College of Physical Science (later renamed Armstrong College and precursor to Newcastle University), as Lecturer in History. He contributed to the musical training of teachers and directed the newly established College Choral Society.
When Terry moved to Aberdeen in 1898, he was replaced by alumnus, organist and fellow Bach scholar William Gillies Whittaker, whose role as ‘Instructor in Music’, as Terry’s had been, was initially linked to teacher training. With the foundation of the Department of Music in the 1920s, Whittaker continued as a ‘Lecturer in Music and Reader in Choral Music’.
Over the next two decades, music scholars at King’s College included Sidney Newman, Jack Westrup and Chalmers Burns, who introduced the BA Hons in Music in 1948. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne was established in 1963, and the Music Department continued to flourish, with Denis Matthews being appointed to the first Chair of Music in 1971.
In 2000, we were the first Russell Group University to introduce a degree in Popular and Contemporary Music and in 2001, we introduced a degree in Folk and Traditional Music, the first of its kind in England. We were the lead partner in a collaboration between North East universities to establish a Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) on campus, one of only two music CETLs in the country.
Our research is internationally recognised and is at the heart of what we do, informing our teaching and engagement and shaping our creative and scholarly community. We have particular research strengths in ethnomusicology, early music, popular music studies, creative practice as research (composition and performance) and critical musicology.
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