As mentioned by the Admiral this was not only performed by Dave Houlden by written by him as well, it's in his song book (perhaps I should not mention that)


TREACLE MINING SONG

The surveyors found the treacle mine in 1849
And off they went to Cookham recruiting for the mine
Underneath the mount far below Cookham Dean
The finest job creation scheme that Cookham's ever seen

CHORUS

Bang with the shovel lads make the picks to fly
Haul away the chalk we'll strike treacle by and by
In with the spigot forward with the can
Nobody gets the better of the treacle mining man

They flocked from farms and they left the boat yards
Some found the work was very very hard
Of course the main attraction was the Fowler company money
They soon found that treacle mining wasn't all honey

The collier thinks the treacle miner's life is soft
And so does the sailor as he's freezing up aloft
But picking treacle from our eyes and nose did near defeat us
And there's the treacle miner's scourge the dreaded diabetes

We had our mine disaster as it seems that all mines do
It wasn't an explosion, the fire damp or the dust
When the news was brought to Cookham you could hear the women scream
A swarm of wasps had built their nest in number two top seam

Now they've raised the target up to forty can a stint
The mine was near worked out all the miners skint
In nineteen nine they closed it down and ended all the larks
Now it's part of the history of South East Berks

Tune: I'm Marching Inland From the Shore