HERITAGE AND SINGING

By Dr Andrew Mowat, Librarian and member of Ashington and District Male Voice Choir

When I joined the Choir, just after the pandemic lockdown, I didn’t really know anything about coal mining. My wife comes from Northumberland, but not the coastal strip. But I think I now understand the Ashington & District Male Voice Choir’s unique selling point: it maintains that proud tradition of what being from the North East is about. Connection with communities based on the coal mining industry.

We’re really lucky having musicians like Derek Hobbs and Neil Morton, and writers like Mike Kirkup and Ernest Nattrass, because they have given us a full basket of songs which we can perform to keep that tradition alive. The Collier’s Requiem, Yard Seam Bothal High, The Woodhorn Disaster, Song of the Coal, sit alongside the more traditional Dance to ye Daddy, Keel Row, Bobby Shafto, Water of Tyne and others as testament to what being from this area is all about.. And we’re also lucky to be able to perform that music – alongside some more modern and uplifting songs from Gospel, Musical and National traditions – in settings like the Morpeth Gathering and the Living Museum of the North in Beamish. We do have a quite a few concerts later in the year to look forward to and, if you’d like the choir to come and sing for an event, we’re always game for new venues.

New members are welcomed and supported: if you are interested, please visit our website www.ashingtonmalevoicechoir.org, find us on Facebook, or call Colin on 01670815534. We look forward to hearing from you.

Interested? Call Stuart 07950 770021 for more