Hi Jim - I must agree with you here - as a fellow singer in this 80 voice choir, I'm finding it a fantastic experience to sing these songs in such heartfelt harmony. It must be a powerful experience to be in an audience and hear these powerful songs

Last night on a walk up to Rydal caves near Ambleside (where they mined slate instead of coal) I completed the learning of the words for the songs, and realised I'd learnt a lot about mining as well. In the walls of the caves I could see all the holes where they'd drilled for the explosives, and wondered if a triangular bit cut out of the rock was for a jud.

Some of the songs though I'm still wondering what they mean. Like the last verse on We Work the Black Seam: "When you have sunk without a trace/ The Universe will suck me into place?" Is this a reference to nuclear meltdown and the China Syndrome, or the demise of Maggie Thatcher?