Those in the Leicestershire area will be able to listen in to the Breakfast Show on Radio Leicester on Mon (7 March) to hear me chatting about my new song The Dirty Thirty.
I’ll be on at around 8.20am and will be joined by David Bell, the author of the book The Dirty Thirty: Heroes of the Miners Strike, which directly inspired the song.
They’ll be playing some of the song too, as well as finding out how the song came to be.
I recommend it to you. It’s a brilliant piece of social history, and David gets out of the way and lets the people themselves tell the story.
Enjoy the song. The lyrics are below:
They were called The Dirty Thirty
So they wore that name with pride
As the only striking miners
They stood against the tide
And if you call them heroes
They would surely disagree
But the dirty thirty and their kin
Are all heroes to me
Let me tell you a story
For I really can’t ignore
The happenings in Leicestershire
In 1984
Two thousand and five hundred
Walked across that picket line
But a tiny band of miners
Would not go into the mine
They were called The Dirty Thirty
So they wore that name with pride
As the only striking miners
They stood against the tide
And if you call them heroes
They would surely disagree
But the dirty thirty and their kin
Are all heroes to me
The railwaymen at Coalville
They backed the miners too
And when a coal train came along
They would not let it through
And the women they were mighty
Maybe mightier than the men
They suffered so much hardship
But they’d do it all again
They were called The Dirty Thirty
So they wore that name with pride
As the only striking miners
They stood against the tide
And if you call them heroes
They would surely disagree
But the dirty thirty and their kin
Are all heroes to me
So here’s to Malcom Pinnegar
Or “Benny” to his friends
Who led the Dirty Thirty
Till the strike came to an end
And here’s to all the other lads
So principled and true
And those who stood beside them
As a worker’s meant to do
They were called The Dirty Thirty
So they wore that name with pride
As the only striking miners
They stood against the tide
And if you call them heroes
They would surely disagree
But the dirty thirty and their kin
Are all heroes to me
I’m delighted to confirm that I will be playing at this years Liverpool Remembers event on Sunday 23rd January 2011.
Liverpool Remembers is an afternoon commemorating the Holocaust with contributions from members of the Jewish community.
It is also a chance to reflect upon other human rights tragedies and genocides affecting people across the world with communities now based in Liverpool.
The event takes place at St Francis Assisi Academy in Gardners Drive, Fairfield (just off Shiel Road) from 2pm til 5.30pm.
For more details click here to see Cllr Louise Baldock’s blog, or check my gigs page.
You’ll be pleased to know that the Working Class Life & Music Festival will be taking place next year bigger and better than ever.
Now a city-wide event with the city’s leading arts and cultural organisations lining up in support, it will be a unique celebration of the lives and experiences of everyday people spanning nine days and forty events.
There is no other festival of its type and scope anywhere in the world but it will be here in Liverpool from April 22nd to April 30th 2011, leading nicely up to the traditional May Day Celebrations.
It will encompass music, song, poetry, drama, lectures, walking tours, photography, writing, cinema, community arts workshops and more.
It is crucial that we receive sponsors for the event, so please help us out by lobbying on our behalf to get people interested in being part of this magnificent event.
For artists, volunteers, or those wishing to organise an event for the festival, please drop us a line here.
Note that our brochure deadlines are 3rd December 2010, so sponsors and organisers need to let us know their intentions by then.
I’m excited to inform everyone that the International Brigades National Association is holding it’s AGM in Liverpool this weekend.
There are two important events to take part in. The first is a plaque unveiling in the afternoon. The second is a social event in the evening where I’ll be playing as part of the band Rich Man’s Ruin.
The plaque contains the names of the Merseyside Contingent previously dedicated by our own Jack Jones (pictured), sadly no longer with us, which was formerly housed at the Unemployed Centre in Hardman St before being relocated to the now closed Peoples Centre.
It will now be housed in the newly refurbished Unite Building in Islington.
The event will run from 12pm this Saturday, with the plaque rededication ceremony at 12.30 followed by a couple of prominent speakers. The AGM for those involved will be held at 3.30.
From 7pm there will be a free to enter Social Event at the Casa in Hope St, with four music acts performing, including Rich Man’s Ruin, Amsterdam front man Ian Prowse, and the always special Liverpool Socialist Singers.
The organisers will welcome all comrades who can make it to these events involving an important chapter of our proud Labour History on Merseyside.
You’ll be pleased to know that the Working Class Life & Music Festival will be taking place next year bigger and better than ever.
I’m excited to inform everyone that the International Brigades National Association is holding it’s AGM in Liverpool this weekend.
