New year is often a busy time and 2016 has been no exception for myself and A Living Tradition. The first major event I was involved in was part of the excellent Under the Fields of Heaton commemoration of the Heaton Pit Disaster of 1815. On Friday January 29th I was proud to do my bit at an evening dedicated to the links between the mining industry and the coal trade, particularly with London. Although very poorly, I was able to get through a power-point presentation about the history of the mining industry and coal trade with London and further afield, which was then followed by a play reading of a play I have written entitled The Price of Coal. Ably assisted by Lewis Cuthbertson, the short play examining the links between the mining industry and the coal trade and reflecting on how much things have really changed over the last 200 years. The end of my slot was the song also called The Price of Coal, specially written for the event and found on the music/writing page of this website. In this I was again ably assisted, this time by Ken Patterson on accordion. All in all, my slot seemed to go down well with the audience of about 100 people at the North of England Mining Institute and the adrenaline from performing even meant that I felt a little better while I was busy on stage. I managed to get a restful weekend afterwards, which was much needed!
The following Tuesday I was feeling a little better, which was just as well as another important event was due to take place; a Holocaust Memorial Event at the Millin Centre in Benwell, organised by A Living Tradition and featuring the plight of the Roma, both in the Holocaust and sadly the suffering they are still experiencing in parts of Europe today. Again the evening began with a presentation, about the persecution suffered by the Roma since their arrival in Europe about 1 000 years ago, the appalling events of the Holocaust, or Porajmos (Devouring) as it is known in the Romani language and the discrimination they still suffer today across parts of Europe and which has seen 6 000 settle in West Newcastle and another 200 families settle in Gateshead. The point was well made that the Porajmos was in some ways still going on. The presentation was followed by a song called Searching, which can also be found on the music/writing page of this website and then a song written specially for the event by myself and Karen Underhill, who sang and played with me and who was a great help in putting the event together. Karen then introduced four young people she had been working with at North Benwell Youth Project, who sang very well, singing about the need to look after the environment. Karen then showcased the excellent work she had done at North Benwell Youth Project and at CHAT, with young Roma, showing just how much they have to offer Newcastle and Tyneside. there were then short talks by Musa Hassan Ali, who lost much of his family in the terrible genocide of Rwanda in 1994 and from Deanna van der Velde, whose mother had been a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Irma Karchnakova, a Czech Roma inhabitant of Gateshead, who works at the Riverside Health Project, completed a successful evening, talking about life for Czech Roma in the Czech Republic and in Newcastle. All that was left was for the attendees, who numbered about 30, to enjoy the excellent refreshments provided in house by the Millin Centre's own women's enterprise scheme.
Then on Saturday 13th February, A Living Tradition collaborated with Amnesty International and The Black Portraits exhibition at the Discovery Museum. A presentation by myself about our wonderful heritage of human rights' work in Norheast England was followed by very moving presentations by human rights defenders from Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Papua New Guinea, currently working and studying at York University. all in all the event was deemed a success by those who attended.
So on to the next event this coming Saturday, 20th February; a celebration of Northeast Human rights and the contribution made by Newcastle City Council. Perhaps more about that in the next blog.....
The following Tuesday I was feeling a little better, which was just as well as another important event was due to take place; a Holocaust Memorial Event at the Millin Centre in Benwell, organised by A Living Tradition and featuring the plight of the Roma, both in the Holocaust and sadly the suffering they are still experiencing in parts of Europe today. Again the evening began with a presentation, about the persecution suffered by the Roma since their arrival in Europe about 1 000 years ago, the appalling events of the Holocaust, or Porajmos (Devouring) as it is known in the Romani language and the discrimination they still suffer today across parts of Europe and which has seen 6 000 settle in West Newcastle and another 200 families settle in Gateshead. The point was well made that the Porajmos was in some ways still going on. The presentation was followed by a song called Searching, which can also be found on the music/writing page of this website and then a song written specially for the event by myself and Karen Underhill, who sang and played with me and who was a great help in putting the event together. Karen then introduced four young people she had been working with at North Benwell Youth Project, who sang very well, singing about the need to look after the environment. Karen then showcased the excellent work she had done at North Benwell Youth Project and at CHAT, with young Roma, showing just how much they have to offer Newcastle and Tyneside. there were then short talks by Musa Hassan Ali, who lost much of his family in the terrible genocide of Rwanda in 1994 and from Deanna van der Velde, whose mother had been a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Irma Karchnakova, a Czech Roma inhabitant of Gateshead, who works at the Riverside Health Project, completed a successful evening, talking about life for Czech Roma in the Czech Republic and in Newcastle. All that was left was for the attendees, who numbered about 30, to enjoy the excellent refreshments provided in house by the Millin Centre's own women's enterprise scheme.
Then on Saturday 13th February, A Living Tradition collaborated with Amnesty International and The Black Portraits exhibition at the Discovery Museum. A presentation by myself about our wonderful heritage of human rights' work in Norheast England was followed by very moving presentations by human rights defenders from Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Papua New Guinea, currently working and studying at York University. all in all the event was deemed a success by those who attended.
So on to the next event this coming Saturday, 20th February; a celebration of Northeast Human rights and the contribution made by Newcastle City Council. Perhaps more about that in the next blog.....
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