NORTHERN VOICES AWARDS 2012

PRESS RELEASE 23/3/2012

The winner of the 2012 Northern Voices Joseph Skipsey Award is the late Gordon MacPherson (1928-1999). The Award was accepted by his daughter Heather Wood of Easington at the Joseph Skipsey 180th anniversary event at the Mining Institute in Newcastle on 17th March.

Northern Voices Community Projects coordinator Keith Armstrong also picked up a lifetime achievement award.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: 0191 2529531

FIGHT TO THE FINISH

GORDON MACPHERSON

(1928-1999)

The life, poems and stories of an East Durham Miner

This is a moving and passionate account of one man’s extraordinary battle against adversity to raise a family in an East Durham pit village.

Gordon MacPherson's poetry and writing sums up the arduous working conditions that miners struggle under and his own personal battle with emphysema in later life.

Gordon was an ordinary miner who did great things. This book glows with love and human decency against all the odds.

It shows us the power of community and serves as an example for the future of this area of North East England and beyond. 

A MESSAGE FROM GRAHAME MORRIS, M.P. FOR EASINGTON

It was an honour to know Gordon MacPherson. He is an inspiration; a man committed to his community, family and with a deep love of the area where he was brought up. I am proud to have known Gordon and he was a friend and an inspiration.

This very personal, moving and evocative account of one man’s extraordinary battle against adversity to raise a family in an East Durham pit village in many ways typifies past working class struggles.

Order from: Northern Voices Community Projects, 93 Woodburn Square, Whitley Lodge, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear NE26 3JD tel. 0191 2529531 or: Heather Wood, 8 Comet Drive, Easington, County Durham SR8 3EP tel. 0191 5270371.

ISBN  978-1-871536-15-4                             PRICE £5 (add £2.50 postage)

Two poems by New Zealand poet Tim Jones

Tim Jones


Tim Jones is a poet and author of both science fiction and literary fiction who was awarded the NZSA Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010. Tim was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire and his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was 2 years old. Tim now lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Tim's third poetry collection, Men Briefly Explained, was published in late 2011For more, see:

Tim's Amazon UK author page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tim-Jones/e/B004MGX7Z8/

Tim's blog: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/


North



On Ilkley Moor


I parked me red


Ford Laser hatchback


and gazed to the north.


Rain and smoke stood over Wharfedale.




It was all in its appointed place:


stone houses and stone smiles in Ilkley


the wind on the bleak


insalubrious bracken.




I was waiting for memory


to make the scene complete:


some flat-vowelled voice out of childhood


snatches of Northern song.




For memory read TV:


Tha've broken tha poor Mother's heart.


It were only a bit of fun.


Bowl slower and hit bloody stumps.




Tha'll never amount to much, lad. In cloth cap and gaiters,


car forgotten, I pedal down the hill. Hurry oop


or tha'll be late for mill. Folk say


I've been seeing the young widow Cleghorn.


Well, now, fancy that.




In my invented character


I trail my falsified heritage


down the long, consoling streets.





Harbours




He settled


where the sea made a distant mirror



glimpsed from the sloping decks


of fast-subsiding houses.




Dockside cranes, the mournful tones


of cruise ships and coastal traders -




these were his background music,


his theme and variations.




From cliff-tops, from office blocks,


he would monitor departures,




courses set for distant harbours


rich with spice and contraband.




Retired, he had his garden,


books, the heavy ticking




of the farewell clock. He searched


tide tables, shipping movements,




looking for a sailing time,


a vessel heading home.

Source

Free standing

At this

Point

This singularity

Entire mass

Of universe

Pivoting around

It

Little wonder

Creation

Feels so heavy

So

Much pressing down

Light

Seems so

Less dense

So

More anonymous

Than darkness

Shadows

Carrying greater weight

As stars

Emerge

And are brilliant

And dwindle

And dim

And die

And

While dark

Remains constant between

Unending

Unerring

Unfathomable

Lurking around

Edges of light

Biding its time

Swallowing time

Taking time

To

Time out

Dark eons

Prove longer

Than

Light years

Shades

Being insurgent

Vanguard

Positively charged

With breaching

Negative defences

Slyly opening

Portals

Rushed by full-force

Of darkness

Rampant

Overwhelming

Light defences

Then

When last eye closes

Vision

Will be vanquished

Banished

From blind realms

In perpetuity

So

This moment

This

Pinprick of brilliance

This singular

Happenstance

Must be seen

Be treasured

As a gem

Without price

As a pearl

Is dull

As the moon

Beyond illumination

                                              Dave Alton

Press Release

THE HARTLEY PIT CALAMITY OF 1862

As part of the 2012 150th anniversary of the Hartley Pit Calamity of 1862, local community arts group Northern Voices Community Projects (NVCP) is, with the support of North Tyneside Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, preparing a touring display and study pack about the Calamity and are asking interested volunteers to get involved.

NVCP have already published, with North Tyneside Council, a commemorative historical book 'Still the Sea Rolls On' and editors Dr Keith Armstrong and Peter Dixon are leading a series of informative visits and study workshops for local volunteers to help research original documentation about the Calamity. The results will be a touring display and a set of study packs to be distributed to North Tyneside libraries, schools, colleges, museums and other organisations who have an interest in the subject.

Involvement is free and there will be visits to Newcastle's Mining Institute, New Hartley Memorial Garden and Earsdon churchyard, Woodhorn Museum, Beamish Museum and Newcastle Library, culminating at Segedunum, Wallsend.

Volunteers will get practical experience of local sites and archives and an insight into the research skills involved in local history research. You need no qualifications or skills to join, only an interest in local community history.

The first visit is at 10.15am on Monday 19th March at the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle, near the Central Station, and will include a tour of the Institute followed by a bus trip to New Hartley to visit the Memorial Garden and other local sites, including Earsdon churchyard, as well as an illustrated talk by Dr Keith Armstrong and Peter Dixon based on their new book, together with a free buffet lunch.

The other four visits will follow during the day over the next two months.

There are a limited number of places. If you are interested, please contact:

Northern Voices Community Projects Tel: 0191 2529531 or e-mail: k.armstrong643@btinternet

or Chris Bishop, Heritage and Museums Manager, North Tyneside Council Tel 0191 6437413 or e-mail: chris.bishop@northtyneside.gov.uk

Notes to Editors.

North Tyneside Council was successful in securing funding up to £18,600 from the HLF Your Heritage lottery fund to support projects to mark the 150^th Anniversary of the Hartley Pit Disaster. This project is part of a programme of activities supported by those funds.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage.  HLF has supported more than 30,000 projects allocating £4.7billion across the UK. Website: www.hlf.org.uk