God bless you Norma i am a Barnsley Working class man and you stood by us with your beautiful vocals singing of our Yorkshire heritage and sometimes hardships either at sea or underground or even anybody hard done by. God bless you Norma x
I was a coal face miner. I am a singer/guitarist for 67 years to date. When Norma died I added "Bonnie ship the Diamond" to my repertoire. I sang it last Saturday at my weekly gig.
I first saw this performed at Newcastle City Hall during a benefit night for the miners. My Dad was out on strike at the time He worked at Dawdon Colliery in the Durham coalfield. The song was part of a play by 7:84 London called The Garden of England. I've sung it many times since. My dad has long since passed away. I've never heard Norma sing it till now but I knew she'd 'get' it . A fitting perfomance. Lovely.
Wonderful video - more like this, please! Could someone explain more about the subject of the song? I dearly hope to see them on stage someday. When will they come to the U.S.?
The song started life as a poem by Kay Sutcliffe who was the wife of a miner in the Kent coalfield. Kent coal was pretty low quality and the collieries there were the first to go. The tune was written by Sarah Jane Morris as part of a stage show also called Coal Not Dole.
Most of the decent coal near the surface in Britain was used up during the industrial revolution, and so the remaining coal was in the deep pits. But these had narrow seams, gas and flooding, and much of the work could only be done by hand, and was extremely dangerous. The NCB could not compete with foreign imports, and the mines were shut and the miners thrown on the scrapheap while Thatcher and Blair took us into the golden world of finance and banking.
You clearly have little real knowledge of coal in UK. I was colliery undermanager in my twenties and what you say is mosly twaddle. Thatcher's privatisation of the Electricity industry was one of the most damaging blows. Scargill hammered many nails into the coffin.
Gaspode18 your comments on the origin of the song are correct, however your information on the coal itself is wrong, Kent coalfields produced high quality furnace coal, suitable for steel making and electric generation, unlike most british coal, its quality meant it was also exported abroad. Kent pits compared to many were efficient and profitable, Betteshangar especially. The decision to close the Kent coalfield was a political not an economic one, the Tories never forgave the Kent miners for being at the forefront of the campaign that brought down the Tory Heath government. It was also for this vindictive reason, that within months of closing the entire sites were bulldozed into the mud, not one bit of heritage left for generations that followed to gaze upon. The final insult was when they opened a new public space and park on the old site, it was named Fowlmead, rather than given any name to reflect an association with its mining past. They were happy to use the miners money to construct it though.
Hi, Gaspode18 here - changed my name! Thanks for that information, Gwen. I was always given to understand that Kent coal wasn't that great. I sit corrected. I do know perfectly well, though, that the Tories went after the miners (and the shipyards AND the steelworks) more for union-bashing reasons than economic ones. 'twas ever thus and Coal Not Dole is only one of the latest in a long line of protest songs by exploited workers.
God bless you Norma i am a Barnsley Working class man and you stood by us with your beautiful vocals singing of our Yorkshire heritage and sometimes hardships either at sea or underground or even anybody hard done by. God bless you Norma x
I was a coal face miner. I am a singer/guitarist for 67 years to date. When Norma died I added "Bonnie ship the Diamond" to my repertoire. I sang it last Saturday at my weekly gig.
Travel well Norma 💚
RIP Norma. You made your mark in beauty. Your wonderful daughter, Eliza will carry your legacy. I hope there is a better recording of this.
Just to say that I composed all the music for the 7.84 play 'The Garden of England' and one of the songs is Coal Not Dole. Paul Abrahams.
I first saw this performed at Newcastle City Hall during a benefit night for the miners. My Dad was out on strike at the time He worked at Dawdon Colliery in the Durham coalfield. The song was part of a play by 7:84 London called The Garden of England. I've sung it many times since. My dad has long since passed away. I've never heard Norma sing it till now but I knew she'd 'get' it . A fitting perfomance. Lovely.
The roots of English music.
Inspiring.
Wonderful video - more like this, please!
Could someone explain more about the subject of the song?
I dearly hope to see them on stage someday. When will they come to the U.S.?
The song started life as a poem by Kay Sutcliffe who was the wife of a miner in the Kent coalfield. Kent coal was pretty low quality and the collieries there were the first to go. The tune was written by Sarah Jane Morris as part of a stage show also called Coal Not Dole.
As a miner/engineer, Kent mines were not 'the first to go;.
great song, legend singer! Would hav been nice with concertina. Martin didint do her justice!
Written by Kay Sutcliffe
Most of the decent coal near the surface in Britain was used up during the industrial revolution, and so the remaining coal was in the deep pits. But these had narrow seams, gas and flooding, and much of the work could only be done by hand, and was extremely dangerous. The NCB could not compete with foreign imports, and the mines were shut and the miners thrown on the scrapheap while Thatcher and Blair took us into the golden world of finance and banking.
You clearly have little real knowledge of coal in UK. I was colliery undermanager in my twenties and what you say is mosly twaddle. Thatcher's privatisation of the Electricity industry was one of the most damaging blows. Scargill hammered many nails into the coffin.
@@MrConan89 - in America they wouldn't touch any seam less than 6ft. In Britain we were mining 2ft seams.
@@danensis I worked in a 3 foot seam at Ashington colliery. In Northumberland two pits at the time I was there were working 18 inch seams.
Gaspode18 your comments on the origin of the song are correct, however your information on the coal itself is wrong, Kent coalfields produced high quality furnace coal, suitable for steel making and electric generation, unlike most british coal, its quality meant it was also exported abroad. Kent pits compared to many were efficient and profitable, Betteshangar especially. The decision to close the Kent coalfield was a political not an economic one, the Tories never forgave the Kent miners for being at the forefront of the campaign that brought down the Tory Heath government. It was also for this vindictive reason, that within months of closing the entire sites were bulldozed into the mud, not one bit of heritage left for generations that followed to gaze upon. The final insult was when they opened a new public space and park on the old site, it was named Fowlmead, rather than given any name to reflect an association with its mining past. They were happy to use the miners money to construct it though.
Hi, Gaspode18 here - changed my name! Thanks for that information, Gwen. I was always given to understand that Kent coal wasn't that great. I sit corrected.
I do know perfectly well, though, that the Tories went after the miners (and the shipyards AND the steelworks) more for union-bashing reasons than economic ones. 'twas ever thus and Coal Not Dole is only one of the latest in a long line of protest songs by exploited workers.