From here you can download for free, songs, lyric sheets and chord charts for original songs by Steve Thompson and Tom Kelly. All that we ask is that you register in order to receive your free download pass. When you log on with your pass you will see downloadable songs, lyrics and chord charts. If you don't have a password you can still hear various versions of the songs. The guitar/voice folk arrangements are sung by the writer. N.B. note the use of the term "writer" and not "singer" My apologies in advance but you'll be hearing the songs as they originated. Please enter your email address and click subscribe if you want to download songs and lyric sheets.
Many who die for a cause are faceless, ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations, not the famous, not great leaders but those that stand at the back, a face in the crowd, everyman.
One of the worst Pit disasters in the north-east of England was on the afternoon of Thursday January 16th, 1862 at New Hartley Colliery, near Seaton Delaval, in Northumberland. The accident was caused by a beam, weighing forty-three tons, which fell into the pit shaft, trapping the majority of men who worked at the colliery. For six days and seven nights rescuers tried valiantly to save them and up until the Sunday they could hear the trapped miners but then silence reigned. Eventually, after ten days, on Sunday the 26th of January, the rescuers were able to bring out the 204 dead.
sorry no folk arrangement uploaded yet. Below is an alternative arrangement.
Live version with a monologue by Tom Kelly from the Customs House South Shields.
During the Second World War many young girls from the north-east and many other parts of the U.K. met and fell in love with American servicemen and Steve Thompson's auntie, Evelyn Haggan, became a GI Bride. She left her family behind and sailed on the Queen Elizabeth to begin a new life in America. Evelyn wrote a poem, which Steve has turned into the song, ëGI Bride'...
sorry no folk arrangement uploaded yet. Below is an alternative arrangement.
Taken from STEEL TOWN. A young man plans on leaving his hometown to pursue his dreams. This is a well-worn story of young people leaving their homes in Ireland for America or the north of England and heading for the supposedly bright lights of London.
Jarrow man Tommy Kelly was a German Prisoner of War from April 1940 until the end of the war. He spoke little of his experiences but what he did say was that it was nothing like the 1950 British film, THE WOODEN HORSE which gave a very different picture to the harshness he experienced.
Sorry no folk verseion yet. Below is an alternative version.
Jimmy McCauley and Johnny Kelly were two marchers on the historic Jarrow Crusade. Two hundred men from the town of Jarrow marched to London in 1936. The town's shipyard, Palmers, had closed in 1933 resulting in mass unemployment. The aim of the march was to bring Jarrow's plight to the government's notice as life for Johnny and Jimmy and too many others was, ìAs thin as the soles of their shoesî.
sorry no folk version yet. Alternative version below.
This song, featured in the musical STEEL TOWN and captures the desperation of families living with the threat of unemployment. Their source of employment, Consett Steel Works, closed in September, 1980.ìSometimes feels like heaven is pouring tears down on me.î
sorry no folk version yet - below is an alternative version
The title track of the STEEL TOWN musical. Consett moved from a hard working town, ìRaising hell in this frontier townî as its fame grew. The same story could apply to the industrial heartlands in Europe and the USA.
sorry no folk version yet but here is an alternative version preceded by a story from a Steelworker (my uncle Gilbert)
The north-east was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, sons followed fathers and grandfathers into the Pits, Steel Works and Shipyards.
ëMy Father's Father' remembers, commemorates and celebrates that world
sorry no folk version yet. Alternative version below.
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Many who die for a cause are faceless, ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations, not the famous, not great leaders but those that stand at the back, a face in the crowd, everyman. 
One of the worst Pit disasters in the north-east of England was on the afternoon of Thursday January 16th, 1862 at New Hartley Colliery, near Seaton Delaval, in Northumberland. The accident was caused by a beam, weighing forty-three tons, which fell into the pit shaft, trapping the majority of men who worked at the colliery. For six days and seven nights rescuers tried valiantly to save them and up until the Sunday they could hear the trapped miners but then silence reigned. Eventually, after ten days, on Sunday the 26th of January, the rescuers were able to bring out the 204 dead. 
During the Second World War many young girls from the north-east and many other parts of the U.K. met and fell in love with American servicemen and Steve Thompson's auntie, Evelyn Haggan, became a GI Bride. She left her family behind and sailed on the Queen Elizabeth to begin a new life in America. Evelyn wrote a poem, which Steve has turned into the song, ëGI Bride'...
Jarrow man Tommy Kelly was a German Prisoner of War from April 1940 until the end of the war. He spoke little of his experiences but what he did say was that it was nothing like the 1950 British film, THE WOODEN HORSE which gave a very different picture to the harshness he experienced.
Jimmy McCauley and Johnny Kelly were two marchers on the historic Jarrow Crusade. Two hundred men from the town of Jarrow marched to London in 1936. The town's shipyard, Palmers, had closed in 1933 resulting in mass unemployment. The aim of the march was to bring Jarrow's plight to the government's notice as life for Johnny and Jimmy and too many others was, ìAs thin as the soles of their shoesî.
The title track of the STEEL TOWN musical. Consett moved from a hard working town, ìRaising hell in this frontier townî as its fame grew. The same story could apply to the industrial heartlands in Europe and the USA.
The north-east was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, sons followed fathers and grandfathers into the Pits, Steel Works and Shipyards.