Incidentally, my granddad was also a miner, although he only went down the pit after the tileworks closed down; he was out on strike for ten months in 1926, surviving on charity for most of that time & eventually going back to work to a pay cut. My granddad on the other side of the family lied about his age to join up in 1914, and got gassed for his pains. I don't think I've ever heard anything that I felt spoke to me about their experiences - be it traditional, pseudo-traditional or contemporary-in-the-tradition - and I wouldn't presume to write about them myself.

I still think Little Musgrave's a bloody good song.