Coal Face Volume 1 captures the last generation of Washington Miners’ memories and sense of belonging in a changing coalfield community in the ‘Coal Face’ project.  

Funded by Redhills, The Cultural Spring and University College London (UCL), this podcast was accompanied by an exhibition open to the public at Washington F Pit for the whole of September. 2023, a book which is available at https://redhillsdurham.org/shop/coal-face-washington-book/

Visuals created by Andy Martin https://martintype.co.uk/
Stories, writing and podcast by Dr Louise Powell https://louisepowellwriter.wordpress.com/
Audio production by Dr Nick John Williams https://nickjohnwilliams.co.uk/

Coal Face Podcast | Volume 1 | Washington

In Episode 25 I'm joined by playwright, novelist and academic Louise Powell to talk about bias in the creative arts, Northern storytelling and how winning the Sid Chaplin Award changed her life.

Find out more:
https://louisepowellwriter.wordpress.com/
https://louisepowellwriter.wordpress.com/first-stage/
X: @louise__powell
@RedhillsDurham
@NewWritingNorth

Music credit: 'Water of Tyne' performed by Edinburgh University Brass Band (2009) arranged by Jack Stobbs, edited and scored for Brass Band by David Dye. Used with kind permission of the publisher, arranger and performers.

Episode 25: Louise Powell

'Jobs for Everybody' is a soundscape which tells stories about the early days of coalfield life in Washington and Sunderland - through the words of people who have lived it. Hear what it meant to be a young lad starting off at the pit, or a miner's wife who ran her household. The soundscape also features dramatic readings of verbatim poetry written by Louise Powell for the Coal Face exhibition at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

‘Coal Face: Jobs for Everybody’ is a soundscape designed, edited and produced by Nick John Williams, to a script which was written and curated by Louise Powell. It features recordings of Powell’s poems ‘Just Bairns’, ‘Washington’, ‘That Was The Deal’, ‘Lads to Blokes’ and ‘Everybody’, which were read by the actors Angela Rose and John McMahon.

It also features clips from interviews with Paula Short, Billy Crowe, Henry Kirtley, Joan Sutherland, Dave Anderson, Steve Wood, Frederick Branton, June Pell, Jenny Wells, Judith Jeffries, Bob Heron, Juliana Heron, David Chambers, Dennis O’ Brien, David Newton, Alan Mardghum and Muriel Tully. Additional audio was recorded by Andy Martin.

‘Coal Face: Jobs For Everybody’ is the first in a series of 3 soundscapes which have been created to accompany the Coal Face exhibition at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. The exhibition and project are supported using public funding from Arts Council England, and delivered in partnership with Sunderland Culture, The Cultural Spring, Redhills Durham and University College London. 

Special thanks must also go to Washington Millennium Centre, The Old Rectory and The Fans Museum for their support.


Coal Face Podcast Series 2 Soundscape 1: Jobs For Everybody

Dr Louise Powell

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