Miners had the Davey lamp
For seeing in the dark
Protected by a glass
Against a dangerous spark
And a headlamp too for seeing
Working down below
Digging coal for Britain
The power to make things go
Working folk in factories
Women in cotton mills
The din of endless moving frames
Worked till they got ill
Manual labour all life long
Working for a wage
All the hours God sends
Right into old age
That’s the Tyldesley I recall
The Tyldesley of my youth
Grit and grime and cobblestones
Hard working folk the truth
They kept their houses spick and span
Polished the front step
Kept allotments racing birds
And whippets for the bet
See that you are dressed for action
The Lord he says today
And hearing that I see again
The folk of old Bongs way
The women folk cotton dotted
The men with faces black
All gone now all gone now
Never coming back
Brian Fahy
7 August 2022
Erris Poetry 