The Addiewell and Loganlea Miners Welfare Club

The Addiewell And Loganlea Miners Welfare Club [a celebration of a miners’ social club in West Lothian]

Ga’s Song [a long account of one miner’s life, including leaving school, World War One, the 1926 General Strike and later politics]

Miners Work Is Hard Work [a class song on the topic]

The Addiewell And Loganlea Miners Welfare Club

written by Addiewell PS P6/7 with Ewan McVicar

Tune Bananas Are The Best

It’s big and it’s grey and it looks very bare

But when you go in there’s lots of people there

The men put on their fancy suits, the women do their hair

For the Miners’ Welfare Club

The Addiewell and Loganlea Miners’ Welfare Club

Better than a dance hall, better than a pub

The Addiewell and Loganlea Miners’ Welfare Club

Everybody likes to go

The club was opened in 1958

Sam Woods played accordian, the singers they were great

They danced and sang and stayed on very late

At the Miners’ Welfare Club

In the Welfare Club, what do they do?

Raffles, quizzes, bingo – race nights too

Gala Evening Dances with sausage rolls and stew

At the Miners’ Welfare Club

It used to be the women couldn’t go in for a drink

They had to stay at home and wash the dishes in the sink

But now they help to run the club, that’s better, we all think

At the Miners’ Welfare Club – Hurray!

GA’S SONG

Part of the story of Ewan McVicar’s grandfather, Hugh Reynolds of Plean, in his own words.

Tune adapted traditional

When ah was a laddy o twelve year auld

In the year of Nineteen Ocht Two

Ma father hurt his back in a fall in the pit

And ma mither said "It's work time for you"

So ma mither changed the date on ma birth certificate

So's ah could leave the school, free and clear

And ah never knew she'd done it till ah went tae draw ma pension

And they made me work another year

Ah was put pickin stones from the coal comin up

And ma wage was ten bob a week

Less fourpence for the doctor, and sixpence for the union

And the money fair jingled in ma breeks

But ye'll no write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

Sing about the lassies pushin wagons full of stones

And ye'll no write a song about me

When the Nineteen and Fourteen War came along

Ah'd a wife and a six week old bairn

And the papers said the Gerries were killin kids and women

Ah said "Ah, but they'll leave mine alane!"

So me and some pals went away tae join up

The first Scottish miners tae enlist

And ah think tae this day of the fool that ah was

Tae believe all the lies o the press

But ye'll know write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

Sing about the laddies that marched off cheerin

And ye'll no write a song about me

They sent us over tae fight in France

And the sights that ah saw wad mak ye roar

Ah'd seen fields growin oats and barley

But ah'd never seen a field growin tartan before

Ah took a bit of shrapnel in the muscle o ma airm

And it lay there five months through

And when they dug it out there was a piece o ma jersey

And ma tunic lyin in there too

But ye'll no write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

Sing about the laddies that never saw their families

And ye'll no write a song about me

Then they sent us tae Salonika, and there ah caught malaria

Invalided hame, livin saft

Till the boat ah was on was torpedoed by the Gerries

And ah spent fourteen hours on a raft

It was swimmin time again when they put us back tae France

Night piquet duty at the Front

Sinkin in the mud till it's up tae yer middle

And only yer kilts held ye up

But ye'll know write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

Sing about the laddies that were swallowed by the mud

And ye'll no write a song about me

Then ah went back tae Thorniecroft's pit

Ah wrocht at the coalface there

Ah was Branch Secretary in 1926

When we had tae strike tae keep our share

We kept up our hearts and we kept up the fight

And we saw the General Strike come and go

No coal for our fires, and no food for our tables

But No Surrender to the foe

Then we heard that the firemen, the safety men, ye ken

That were keepin the machinery oiled

Were smugglin up coal for old Thorniecroft

So's that he could have his caviar boiled

Well, we couldny stand for that, and we planned to stop their game

But the management spies had the tale

And we were taken up before the Dean Of The Court

And I landed in Duke Street Jail

It was 'Heroes Of The Fight' when we came out

But the strike was over in vain

My name was high on the bosses' blacklist

And ah never was a miner again

But ye'll no write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

Sing about the shambles of the General Strike

And ye'll no write a song about me

Ah'll tell you who tae sing about, the martyr, John Maclean

The finest speaker ever ah heard

Five thousand people in St Andrew's Hall

And he held them with every word

Ah was on the County Council with his daughter

Ah, she's another fine fighter, is Nan

The two of us were votin against every rent increase

While the Labour lads sat upon their hands

But don't start me on about ma Party days

Or we'll be sittin here all night

It's your turn now to get on with the struggle

Ah've fought ma share of the fight

Ah'm nine tenths there tae my hundredth year

And ah sit and ah think of what ah've seen

Ah think ah'm goin tae make it, but the only trouble is

Ah'd have tae get a letter from the Queen

But ye'll no write a song about me, young man

Ye'll no write a song about me

There were thousands like me, nothing special about me

And ye'll no write a song about me

Miners Work Is Hard Work

written by Addiewell PS P4/5

Tune : Barnyards Of Delgaty

Miners’ work is hard work

Miners work underground

With pick and shovel they must dig

Where shale rock and coal are found

Coal and shale are black and green

Coal and shale are hot and cold

Coal and shale are wealth and sadness

Coal and shale are miners’ gold

Miners, they have black faces

When they come up from the pit

They will need to wash off

The black dust and green grit

The Five Sisters used to be

Underground and hidden deep

The miners brought them to the light

Piled them high into a heap

Dig the coal like a mole

Bring the coal from the earth

Send the coal, miners’ gold

To the factory and the hearth