a partner church in the WOLDSBURN benefice
CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
THE TRAWLER AND THE TRAIN
Sept 2007
http://www.churchatkirkburn.org.uk/page43.html 1 of 2 (44) trawler and train Sep ‘07 14/9/07 14/9/07
850TH ANNIVERSARY
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a Folk Song, Words and Music by David Deverson c 2007
it was calm and oh so different back in nineteen fifty three
fish shoals shimmering in silver splendour fill the quay
Times were bad and money scarce, with hungry mouths to feed.
least there was work and cause for pride and dignity
Later dark clouds loomed over doughty handlers of trawl or seine
Icy Arctic waters conflict waged again
fewer fish ‘cos only quotas bite, spirits low with passions vent
to conserve reserves is the authorities lament
Cod is landed here no more
Dormant decks, unemployment queues
Cod is landed here no more
We’ve got the East Coast blues.
It was calm and oh, so different, in those halcyon days of yore
trains took carefree cheery children to the shore
Perhaps platforms were dank and dreary and journeys a draughty ride
Least there were jobs and cause for dignity and pride.
Then came cuts to our rail track over decades of decline
No more signals. no more sidings, the end of the line
Eerie stations with echoes of ghost trains, empty freight yards in distress
Morale hits the buffers, like a runaway express
Trains don’t run here anymore
rusty rails and redundant crews
it was calm and oh so different back in nineteen fifty three
fish shoals shimmering in silver splendour fill the quay
Times were bad and money scarce, with hungry mouths to feed.
least there was work and cause for pride and dignity
Later dark clouds loomed over doughty handlers of trawl or seine
Icy Arctic waters conflict waged again
fewer fish ‘cos only quotas bite, spirits low with passions vent
to conserve reserves is the authorities lament
Cod is landed here no more
Dormant decks, unemployment queues
Cod is landed here no more
We’ve got the East Coast blues.
It was calm and oh, so different, in those halcyon days of yore
trains took carefree cheery children to the shore
Perhaps platforms were dank and dreary and journeys a draughty ride
Least there were jobs and cause for dignity and pride.
Then came cuts to our rail track over decades of decline
No more signals. no more sidings, the end of the line
Eerie stations with echoes of ghost trains, empty freight yards in distress
Morale hits the buffers, like a runaway express
Trains don’t run here anymore
rusty rails and redundant crews