Sneyd Explosion 1942 Poem

Please use the poem as you wish in the promotion of the recognition of the sort of dangers miners exposed themselves to every day.

My parents were from South Wales and my father started off in the pit when he was 14. I have to say that I regard miners in a heroic light. It may be misguided to think of pitmen in this way, but, however ordinary they may be on some scales of comparison, they certainly put themselves in a daily position where heroism is likely to be called for. Of course, the rescue teams were something else again - such exceptional men even among exceptional men.

Stoke on Trent is my adopted home. I came here in the 1960s to be with my then girlfriend (since wife), Lynda. The history of Stoke fascinates me and it has been the subject of many of my poems and songs. This lyric commemorates the explosion at the Sneyd Collier, near Burslem, Stoke on Trent on New Years Day, 1942. The pitmen thought it unlucky to work on New Years Day, but went ahead anyway despite their reluctance in order to support the war effort which totally relied on the continuous production of coal. Ironically, some of those killed were 'Bevin Boys'.

I sing this song fairly frequently, but always, for obvious reasons, at the beginning of each year.

ON A NEW YEARS DAY

He who dares cut the coal, old pitmen say
On a New Years Day
Has a wife make his snappin', a widow take his pay
On a New Years Day

Bomber planes are flying, back to work it is
On a New Years Day
Sally stop your crying and give me one more kiss
On a New Years Day

The winding wheel is turning, the cage at the drift
On a New Years Day
Collier lads and Bevin Boys start their morning shift
On a New Years Day

At the Banbury Crut Jig a rope begins to fray
On a New Years Day
The air is choked with powdered coal, the coal tubs runaway
On a New Years Day

The first down-coming tub scrapes up a spark
On a New Years Day
A coal dust blast rips apart the dark
On a New Years Day

At the pithead wives are waiting in sorrow and in grief
On a New Years Day
Their silence only broken by words of disbelief
On a New Years Day

Collier wives and Bevin Boys and boys in soldier suits
On a New Years Day
When bells ring out for war, we are all recruits
On a New Years Day

When the names are numbered, the roll of honour called
On a New Years Day
To the spoil heaps of the battlefields add fifty-seven more
On a New Years Day