Songs and Politics of the Durham Coalfield
Location: Durham City Rugby Club, Hollow Drift, Green Lane, DH1 3JU
Thursday 6 July, 7pm- 11pm
Join Education4Action in celebrating the songs and politics of the Durham Coalfield with the Folk Music singer/songwriters The Elliot’s of Birtley, and Benny Graham, Pitmen Poet and giant of the North East Folk Scene. Mary Foy MP will also be speaking at the event and there will be a talk from Robert Gildea on his new book ‘Backbone of the Nation – the story of the support groups in 1984/5’ which E4A contributed to.
Bill Elliott (Elliott’s of Birtley) and Kevin Youldon have played Folk Music together for over 30 years and are well-known on the North East Folk scene. Ken Tonge is a fine Folk musician originally from Lancashire who is well-known on the local folk scene and has performed in Folk Clubs, Festivals etc. for over 50 years. They all regularly perform in Beamish Museum and other venues.
Benny Graham served his musical apprenticeship from 1967 in the folksong clubs of North East England such as in Birtley, run by the Elliott family, and Newcastle Folksong and Ballad (which featured among its regulars the High Level Ranters and Lou Killen) were at the forefront of the British folk revival.
Real ale & bar food
Tickets: £5 on the door. Register in advance by emailing
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Sunderland Minster, Remember Srebrenica
From Peter Sagar
Sunderland Minster, 6.30pm, 11 July
As some of you are aware, 11th July marks the 28th anniversary of the terrible genocide at Srebrenica in Bosnia when 8372 innocnet men and boys were murdered by Serbian forces, during the war in the fromer Yugoslvaia. Other massacres also took place during that terrible conflict and all these as well as the events at Srebrenica are remembered by the Bosnian community in the North East every July.
This year the main ceremony in our region is in Sunderland at the Minster on 11th July and the proceedings begin at 6pm. These are always very moving and informative events and are very well worth attending. They are opportunities to remember those who lost their lives in the war in Bosnia and also consider how we should respond here in the Northeast in our communities, to lessen hatred and help build strong communities that can work together to deal with the challenges we face.
I hope some of you can attend.
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Tuesday Meeting: Disruption and control: Contesting mobility regimes through the picket line in 1970s Britain with Diarmaid Kelliher
By Zoom on 18 July 2023 at 7.00pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84535084069?pwd=Qy82WW9KSlpyMlkyam1VcmxEd1RIQT09
Meeting ID: 845 3508 4069
Passcode: 099985
Through an account of the relationship between picket lines and drivers in Britain, this talk thinks about questions of mobility in labour history.
It focuses on three moments in this period. First, the 1972 miners’ strike, when interactions between pickets and hauliers produced moments of powerful solidarity but also violent conflict.
Second, debates around a legislative proposal to require drivers to stop and listen to pickets, in which contrasting conceptions of mobility ‘rights’ were employed.
Third, the 1979 road haulage strike, which demonstrated drivers’ own ability to disrupt the economy through picketing. At stake in all three was a question of power over movement. Such a focus draws attention to complex methods of control, which can be missing in labour histories that emphasise the purely disruptive nature of industrial action and picketing.
Diarmaid is a Lecturer in Human Geography in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow.
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CRAMLINGTON TRAIN WRECKERS (from Ed Waugh)
Wednesday, July 26 @ 2pm & 6.30pm
The Hub, Cramlington
We had 160 at the meetings about the Cramlington Train Wreckers on March 30 and the follow-up film/talk in July 26 has already attracted 75 people with seven weeks to go.
The event during the General Strike led to the imprisonment of eight Northumberland miners for a total of 48 years.
A campaign by the labour and trade union movement got them out a lot earlier. It’s an incredible story.
Given it happened during the General Strike of 1926, and we are approaching the centenary, we are working with local organisations on the project.
Also Google: “Cramlington Train Wreckers” to see the work we’ve already done.
We have secured the rights to the 30-minute (1970) BBC film called Yesterday’s Witness, about the Cramlington Train Wreckers.
Ed
07960066377
TO PURCHASE TICKETS
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NELH Tuesday Meeting: Tony Fox will talk about Phyllis Short, lifelong Teesside Communist
22 August 2023, 7.00pm
Details to follow
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NELH Annual General Meeting, CHANGE OF DATE – now 7 September. Victoria Bazin and Melanie Waters, Feminist Print Magazines and their Influence in the Digital Age project
7 Sept 2023, 7.00pm Newcastle Lit and Phil
The date of our AGM has been moved from 12 September to Thursday 7 September. It will be held at the Newcastle Lit and Phil.
The speakers will be Victoria Bazin and Melanie Waters who will be talking about the Feminist Print Magazines and Their Influence in the Digital Age project.
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NELH First Tuesday: Unemployed Resistance (1978 – Now), Trade Unions and Community
3 October 2023, 7.00pm
Details to follow