[David Anthony]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itxshX1i4o

[Ann Drysdale]

It's an ongoing situation. Here's a song from the sixties, a setting of a poem from the thirties...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK_e...adio =1&t=141


NB. In the interests of historical accuracy, I have to report that there are no bells in Blaina now, grim or otherwise. The church was demolished in the 70's (allegedly "undermined" by coal workings) and is now a red brick box. Yesterday morning somebody was arrested for attempted murder in the shadow of it.

[David Anthony]

Another of my favourites.

[Jim Moonan]

(Found Poetry from Ann Drysdale)

In the interests of historical accuracy
I have to report that there are no bells
in Blaina now, grim or otherwise.

The church was demolished in the 70's
(allegedly "undermined" by coal workings)
and is now a red brick box.

Yesterday morning
somebody was arrested
for attempted murder
in the shadow of it.
x
x

[Jim Moonan]

x
David, the link you posted can't be accessed here in the states so I found another version with some good video footage here

Annie, The Seeger song is great, too. I know nothing about the historical facts other than what a quick search found but can sense the passion and pain that is wrapped up in the ongoing debacle through the decades. Wales weeps.

Thanks both of you for a glimpse. We could use a troubadours like Pete Seeger and Max Boyce these days to help makes sense out of all the whirl of cacophony. Methinks Greta Thunberg needs a band...
x
x

[Ann Drysdale]

Jim, that’s a much better link even here. The words come across a lot clearer.

I'm not sure why David posted the song in the first place (and even, to be honest, whether I was the Annie he had in mind) and there are many directions a discussion could take, using the song as a starting point.

David is a Welshman who lives in Buckinghamshire. I am an Englishwoman who lives in Blaenau Gwent. And Max Boyce is a lovely man who came to the Beaufort Ballroom to help me launch a Welsh Academy project "Poems in Public Places" more years ago than I care to remember.

As the pits (and the steelworks) closed, other industries were enticed here to replace them. Some of the larger Asian electronics companies set up factories locally. I believe these were quite heavily subsidised. There was a surge in employment but this was skewed by the fact that most of the new jobs were for women (Duw, it’s fiddly). It was good, though, while it lasted.

I remember our little terrace had a street party (any excuse!) to celebrate VJ day. I looked the date up to fix the timescale; it was 1995. We all brought food and beverages to the house at the end of the row but before we fell to, the host called for silence. "I think it's only fitting" he declared solemnly, "that we should take a moment to remember those who are not with us today". We fell quiet until, with exquisite timing, he continued. "Please raise your glasses to those who would have been here if they weren't on the afternoon shift at Aiwa". Oh, how we laughed.

I believe it was the ending of the subsidies that triggered the withdrawal of the companies. I imagine it made economic sense for them to relocate elsewhere. I know that here in The Valleys it felt like another betrayal.

One of the best projects I have worked on while living here was the creation of the Bargoed Woodland Park, transforming the infernal coal tip that Lowry painted while he was here, into a place of pleasure. I was poet-in-residence for a year. It was especially poignant for me because that area was the home of Idris Davies, who wrote the poem that Pete Seeger sings (above). I dedicated my work to Davies. One of my poems, to do with the nature of change, is cut in steel to form one of the gates to the park.

Living here, I have often found myself regarded as part of the problem. I wish I could be part of the solution.

And thank you, Jim, for finding poetry in my prose.
.

[Jim Moonan]

x
Annie, Fascinating. Thanks for the overview of the changing landscape. David surely was speaking to you : )

From here (afar) it (Wales) appears so attractively, culturally vital. Here in the US we all have our own versions of how we got to where we are. Or we are cavalier about such things. We are thoughtless, most of us, most times. Caught in the cacophony of consumerism and materialism and hedonistic pursuits... But I digress (all too easily : )
x
x

[David Anthony]

Annie, yes, it was for you, of course.
(Although North Welsh, I used to visit South Wales quite often because I worked for Hitachi. And I have family there.)