The Pitmen Poets

The industrial and coal mining heritage of the North East of England will be celebrated in song, storytelling and humour when four legends of the folk music scene play at the Forum Theatre in Billingham.

The Pitmen Poets features ex Lindisfarne singer Billy Mitchell, award winning songwriter Jez Lowe, distinguished singer and instrumentalist Bob Fox who played the Song Man in the West End and world tour production of War Horse and Tyneside song connoisseur, Benny Graham.

All four members of the group were brought up in the shadow of the colliery with their fathers and grandfathers working long days and nights at the coalface. Not surprisingly, their experiences and memories are represented in their songs, stories, and poetry including “The Pitman’s Dream,” “These Coal Town Days” and “Black Diamonds.”

With every member coming from coal mining stock, they represent the first generation of their families not to take up the tradition of working down the pit. As Billy Mitchell explains:

“Our parents all said ‘you’re not going down the pit, get a good education and do something worthwhile with your lives’….so now we sing songs and tell stories…. about coal mining. It’s quite ironic really but it’s very important to keep the stories we all heard growing up in the form of songs for the next generation.

“Life working in the pit was tough and to reflect that, our songs aren’t all happy tunes as we look at the terrible tragedies that affected whole villages when disaster struck. But there’s also humour too in great doses in our songs as that’s how families got through the bad times.

“We’re playing a lot of former coal mining areas and the songs will resonate with many people there who made their living from coal. Our music and the subject matter will entertain audiences from ALNWICK in the North, SHREWSBURY in the South, East to BEVERLEY and West to KESWICK. We’re all looking forward to going out on our 2024 tour and meeting the public and literally taking our coals from the Newcastle area to the rest of the country.”