tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post4764271425322864790..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: The Pitmen Painters and a brief dawn by Dennis HamleyKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-56809952142517220502013-08-17T10:27:19.233+01:002013-08-17T10:27:19.233+01:00Thanks Bill. I will follow these through. And th...Thanks Bill. I will follow these through. And thank Nigel for me please.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-75026035061854748492013-08-15T10:29:46.653+01:002013-08-15T10:29:46.653+01:00A friend of mine, Nigel Deacon, runs an eclectic w...A friend of mine, Nigel Deacon, runs an eclectic website which includes a comprehensive overview of radio drama. He wrote to say how much he enjoyed the post and sent links to the notes of Lee Hall's radio version of the play and to another play on the subject, Walpamur and Plywood by Alex Ferguson.<br /><br />http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/aferguson.html<br /><br />http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/r3-the-pitmen-painters-2007.htmlBill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-80696355545497692052013-08-14T18:59:57.572+01:002013-08-14T18:59:57.572+01:00Yes, Julia, the WEA was one of the most significan...Yes, Julia, the WEA was one of the most significant movements of the 20th century and is still going strong. I was always very interested in concepts like Coleridge's Clerisy, Matthew Arnold's Aliens and even Leavis's Discriminating Elite because I felt that paradoxically the concepts behind them - even Leavis's - influenced its setting up. I have just one slight cavil about the Pitmen being exceptional as a group. Yes, they were, but they were indiduals too. It's amazing to me that so many huge talents from a small town could gather one evening in a draughty hall in Ashington, especially when they had no idea that they WERE talented. It says so much to me about individual fulfilment and the discovery of what lies inside each one of us. Perhaps the group was simply the stimulus they needed for the self-discovery. Or the inspired teacher like Robert Lyon. I think that's why the way he was presented in the play attracted me so much. I felt he was the sort of teacher I aspired to be, helping to bring the talent out rather than pushing the information in.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-8488054299279211262013-08-14T18:09:53.271+01:002013-08-14T18:09:53.271+01:00Actually, speaking as someone who worked almost 10...Actually, speaking as someone who worked almost 10 years for the WEA I KNOW that education does still offer people the opportunity to change their lives. Of course the years immediately post WW2 could be seen as the WEA's finest hour (can't remember the stats of members of the Atlee govt who had WEA connections but they're impressive). Pitmen Painters - magnificent achievement BUT the point is they were exceptional as a group. Most successes are small and individual but still real and worthwhile.julia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-75417519814977008012013-08-14T17:25:55.583+01:002013-08-14T17:25:55.583+01:00Wonderful post, Dennis. Thanks for recalling and r...Wonderful post, Dennis. Thanks for recalling and restating those post-war values that held so much promise - and not just as a reaction to what we'd just been through but as a promise that things would get better. Well, yes, in many ways they have, but we've lost an awful lot too. It's good to see that, for plenty of us, they're still remembered and hope hasn't been totally crushed.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-24792696284516656872013-08-14T14:57:30.855+01:002013-08-14T14:57:30.855+01:00I shall send you a copy of the book Dennis. it'...I shall send you a copy of the book Dennis. it's about older people , challenging stereotypes of ageing, with masses of great stories from older people of all types of states of health and independence. Norman, famous artist at 91 as he was at publication, is such an achiever. his story about his first day down the pit as a boy is amazing. <br />fb msg me your address dennis. <br />Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-63914889731750533812013-08-14T12:58:46.436+01:002013-08-14T12:58:46.436+01:00Thanks, Dan. That's how I feel most of the tim...Thanks, Dan. That's how I feel most of the time. I'm so lucky to have been given my chance before the concrete set.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-3090863796261837942013-08-14T12:56:36.418+01:002013-08-14T12:56:36.418+01:00Val, that's fascinating. I've made a note...Val, that's fascinating. I've made a note to look for the William Feaver book: it must at least be around on Amazon Marketplace. And I shall also buy yours. It sounds brilliant. Kathleen, the situation we have now makes me want to weep as well. Helen Sutherland was portrayed very sympathetically in the play and her offer to Oliver was a fair one. She wouldn't understand his struggles in not knowing what to do about it. Ben Nicholson at first appears as an upper-class fop - until you listen to what he's saying about art. There's a conclusion to be drawn there too. By the way, did I tell you that we visited Katherine Mansfield's memorial in Menton?Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-72826444455084850702013-08-14T12:56:13.182+01:002013-08-14T12:56:13.182+01:00Just caught this a bit late - been a bit busy late...Just caught this a bit late - been a bit busy lately! Interesting to see what Lee Hall's up to (I know what you're up to of course Dennis!!) I still think his Spoonface Steinberg is one of the finest things written EVER. As radio, on stage or even on TV. Or indeed as a script. The message transcends the medium if the writing is good enough methinks. CallyPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481379296340077102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-35580388096348053272013-08-14T12:35:05.286+01:002013-08-14T12:35:05.286+01:00Wonderful post. "Things like that don't h...Wonderful post. "Things like that don't happen to people like me" sometimes feels like it's written indelibly through my bones, and when that's the case it's so so hard to see how the world could ever be any differentDan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-67321542865615225052013-08-14T11:28:35.192+01:002013-08-14T11:28:35.192+01:00Your post almost made me weep Dennis, because you&...Your post almost made me weep Dennis, because you've put your finger on one of the turning points of post-war society - a downward turn that will have terrible consequences for all of us. The Pitmen Painters are very fresh in my mind because I'm writing about one of their patrons, Helen Sutherland - a P&O heiress who patronised lots of artists, both elite and working class - Winifred and Ben Nicholson, David Jones, Kathleen Raine, Percy Kelly etc as well as the subject of my new biography Norman Nicholson. Took me into the territory of the Quaker Settlement Projects which were an attempt to provide education and aspiration for industrial wastelands and their disadvantaged inhabitants. What happened to it all?Kathleen Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07645566938871914385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-65856152743775370932013-08-14T10:17:31.482+01:002013-08-14T10:17:31.482+01:00Dennis, great post as ever. Loved your 'ghost ...Dennis, great post as ever. Loved your 'ghost post' too! Re Pitmen Painters, this is in my neck of the woods - for anyone interested to know more about the Ashington group, William Feaver's Pitmen Painters (carcanet I think) is the definitive book, still possibly available. There were other groups in the area- eg Spennymoor: for a living Pitman Painter, look up Norman Cornish, now over ninety, still painting or was when I interviewed him in 2010 for my book Changing Age Changing Minds (publ. Ncl univ). There are lots of books about him and examples of his long career as an artist who spent 30 years down the pit. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.com