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 East Riding Theatre in June 2024.
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.
Venue Details
EAST RIDING THEATRE IS A COMMUNITY THEATRE, BASED IN BEVERLEY. Established in 2014, the venue was created from a former Victorian chapel and it oifers an intimate space for enjoying many types of entertainment, with a 200 seat auditorium and fully licensed Café Bar. The year-round programme of entertainment, includes theatre, music, comedy, spoken word and much more. Regular exhibitions of art are displayed within the Theatre Gallery. It is also a venue that is often used for festivals and other events. OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF OUR THEATRE Without our Volunteers we would not have a theatre. They are passionate about the entertainment programme that we deliver and dedicated in making a contribution to our day-to-day activities throughout all areas of the theatre – whether it be welcoming our audience front-of-house, selling tickets in the box office, serving drink and food in our café bar, helping with maintenance, keeping the theatre clean or one of many other roles! BOX OFFICE & CAFÉ BAR OPENING TIMES Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm Saturday 10am – 2pm Onsite Café Vegetarian menu options Vegan Menu options Gluten Free menu options Local Brews Afternoon Tea The Theatre's facilities are also open at all times during any performance.
Facilities
Accessible Information Points
Accessible Toilets
Assistance Dogs
Baby Changing
Changing Places Toilet
Hearing Loop
Level Access
Onsite Cafe
Wheelchair Access