When aa was a lad a holiday was a daytrip to the sea
With a bag full o’ sandwiches, some pop and a flask of tea
There’d be me, me mother and father, me sisters and Aunty may
Heading for wa holidays at the coast at Whitley Bay
From Seaton Sluice to Sydney
I was born in Newcastle on the Tyne
I’ve lived in Northumbria all the time
But now I must leave
Friends and family don’t you grieve
In Australia I’ll be doing fine
What have they done to Gateshead?
I travelled the world for country and King
It took two years off my life
And when I returned to Gateshead town
I courted and took me a wife
And that was July nineteen fifty one
When Gladys and I were wed
In October we sailed for Australia
And said farewell to Gateshead
The Pitman Poet
CHORUS : So here’s to the memory of Tommy Armstrong
He was the pitman poet, righting all life’s wrongs
In the words of his poems which are now folk songs
Here’s to the memory of Tommy Armstrong
He was the pitman poet, recording life and times
In the late eighteen hundreds in his verses and his rhymes
When the main source of earnings was working down the mines
And sometimes the wages there were paid back in fines
The Felling Shore
by Wilf Mitford
Aa mind Sunday mornings doon by the Felling Shore
With me Father and me sisters when we would all explore
The place where he was born and bred, before the first world war
He would show us where he used to live, knocked down some years before
CHORUS
Though the people and the hooses were replaced by grass and trees
The Felling Shore was still alive in me Father’s memories
The Jarrow Marchers
by Wilf Mitford, 1986
On the fifth of October on a bright and sunny day
Nineteen hundred and thirty-six, they set out on their way
There were two boys and a woman, two hundred and seven men
And a dog known as paddy, who left and returned again
CHORUS : They were the Jarrow Marchers, unemployment was there crime
Marching down to London town, from Jarrow on the Tyne
Welcome to the Mitford Music blog
My dad is a songwriter from the North East of England. He’s been writing songs since he was a teenager. He started with pop tunes but really made his mark with his folk songs documenting important events in the North East and aspects of daily life. I’ve been keen to type up his songs so figured I would kill two birds with one stone and do it as a blog! I hope you find this journey as interesting as I do.
Mitford Music was the name of our record label when we recorded some of this music as a family band. I’ll talk about that more as the blog develops so stay tuned.
Julia Mitford Child
