The Craic was good in Cricklewood:

Sell-out Show at Luton Library Theatre On Saturday October 19th. A great audience made it a really enjoyable experience for Joe Giltrap & myself. Definitely love to do it again!!!

Voices of the men who built Britain: taster. Full CD runs for 70+ minutes. Details from myself on +353 (0)51 563377

The long-awaited CD, The Crack was Good in Cricklewood: Voices of the men who built Britain, will be available within the next fortnight!!!

VOICES OF THE MEN WHO BUILT BRITAIN

These first-hand accounts of life in Britain’s construction industry in the last century are taken from my archive of recorded interviews and convey a vivid picture of the lives of Irish labourers both before and after leaving Ireland.
Men speak freely about ‘getting the start and jumping on wagons, about gangermen good and bad, about dogging out muck, tunnelling, and pulling cable, about sinking pints, courting women, surviving in lonely bed-sits and dreaming foolishly of ‘going home’.
 Others who didn’t either emigrate or do the work, but observed the consequences, speak hard truths about the price paid in health and relationships and the indifference of many at home who perhaps profited from the labours of those who left.

Songs such as Uncle John and The Mountains of Mourne, Cricklewood, Crooked Jack, The Sick Note, Tunnel Tigers and McAlpine’s Fusiliers, although not the music that the navvies themselves might have played or danced to, express those moods of sadness, defiance, or elation which the navvies knew well but needed others to put into words.

These interviews were conducted mainly between 1993 and 1999. Sadly, a number of the contributors have since passed on, and their world can never come again. Essentially a layered slice of social history, and not just an entertainment, this unique CD offers listeners a rare chance to share the ‘living history’ of those who were there – the men who built Britain!

 

THE CRAIC WAS GOOD IN CRICKLEWOOD:

Songs & Stories of The Men who built Britain

PRESENTED

by

ULTAN COWLEY

with music by

Joe Giltrap

upcoming dates: Luton Library Theatre Saturday October 19th

                            Newcastle Irish Festival Sunday October 20th

THIS STIRRING BLEND OF SONGS OF THE NAVVIES’ HEYDAY AND ANECDOTES OF LIFE ON SITE AND IN THE PUBS, BED-SITS, AND DANCEHALLS OF CAMDEN TOWN, CRICKLEWOOD, AND ELSEWHERE PROVOKES AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE FROM AUDIENCES EVERYWHERE.

This was the world of Tunnel Tigers, Heavy Diggers, and McAlpine's Fusiliers; of Hen Houses, Cock Lodgers, and The Landlady’s Breakfast; of Dead Men, Walking Pelters, and Murphy's Volunteers; of The Shamrock, The Galtymore, The Buffalo and The Crown.

What other migrant labourers experience today is but an echo of what Irish men endured in Britain years ago. Anyone who lived through those days and sees this show will recognise that world. It will be a delight to those who were there and a revelation to those who weren’t...

‘You told it as it was. For me it brought back anger, sadness, and tears. It also brought back memories of pride, joy, and laughter; of men who earned their bread by the sweat of their brow. God rest those who are gone’.             

‘Entertainment – With a Sting in the Tale’ The Irish Post

Voices of The Men Who Built Britain - Coming Soon!!

ICAP Winter Social Supper

'The Craic Was Good in Cricklewood:

Songs & Stories of The Men Who Built Britain'

presented by Ultan Cowley & Joe Giltrap

The Crown Moran Hotel Cricklewood

Friday 23 November 2012

at 7pm

For more information or to book a table please contact icap at +44 20 72727906 or email events@icap.org.uk

www.icap.org.uk / www.ultancowley.com / www.joegiltrap.com

Ultan Cowley: Camaraderie of Pain: Excerpt from Joe McGarry interview

Ultan Cowley: Camaraderie of Pain: Excerpt from Joe McGarry interview