The industrial and coal mining heritage of the North East of England will be celebrated in song, storytelling and humour next week.
The Pitmen Poets will be making a pitstop in Benson on Thursday, May 30, as the Nettlebed Folk Club returns.
The group features former Lindisfarne singer Billy Mitchell, award-winning songwriter Jez Lowe, singer and instrumentalist Bob Fox, and Tyneside song connoisseur, Benny Graham.
The group were all brought up in the shadow of the colliery, with their fathers and grandfathers working long days and nights at the coalface.
With every member coming from coal mining stock, they represent the first generation of their families not to take up the tradition of working down the pit.
Billy says: “Our parents all said, ‘Uou’re not going down the pit, get a good education and do something worthwhile with your lives’, so now we sing songs and tell stories about coal mining.
“It’s quite ironic really, but it’s very important to keep the stories we all heard growing up in the form of songs for the next generation.
“Life working in the pit was tough and to reflect that, our songs aren’t all happy tunes as we look at the terrible tragedies that affected whole villages when disaster struck.
“But there’s also humour too in great doses in our songs as that’s how families got through the bad times.”
He continued: “We’re playing a lot of former coal mining areas and the songs will resonate with many people there who made their living from coal.
“We’re all looking forward to going out on our tour, meeting the public and literally taking our coals from the Newcastle area to the rest of the country.”
The gig is at The Parish Hall, Sunnyside, Benson, near Wallingford on Thursday, May 30 from 7.30pm.
For more details, or to book, call: 01628 636620 or 06128 603670 between 10am and 8pm, or log on to: www.thepitmenpoets.co.uk/tour
