Staffordshire in England’s West Midlands - ‘The Potteries’. Here they dug clay out of the ground to make fireclay, bricks and tiles ‘the beft (best) being found neareft the coale…’. A greater variety of clays lay deeper and as time went on, pits were dug to reach it. Miners’ lives were hard; the community had little leisure time before the 20th century, but hours spent underground gave clay and coal miners particular cause to spend the leisure time they did have in the open air, often based around Miners’ Welfare Clubs.
As the coal industry in Britain shrank, the mines in Staffordshire gradually closed until the last deep mine, Silverdale, closed in 1998. Newcastle Jazz Society started up in Newcastle-under-Lyme in that same year, meeting every Friday at the Forty-Five Club in the town, but other demands at the Club meant that the Society had to sacrifice their Friday evenings and look for another venue.
Society Secretary, Peter Barker, and member Denis Butcher approached the Norton Cricket and Miners’ Welfare Club at Smallthorne and found a ready welcome. The Club itself had been largely sports-based with thriving football, cricket and table tennis teams. There is also a section for retired miners including a well-established show pigeon society.
Like many local Jazz Clubs and Societies, Newcastle is faced with the usual challenges – how to attract younger members and how to meet the cost of live bands.
When the Society moved, attendance on Wednesday evenings dwindled at first, but gradually the numbers began to grow with people coming to hear the bands booked by the Society. The music is largely Traditional Jazz with bands such as the Harlem Hot Four, John Hallam, John Gordon and Mike Burns, but every third Wednesday the popular Apex Jazz and Swing Band have a keen following for their music which often includes a variety of Duke Ellington numbers. (Click here to watch and listen to the Apex Jazz and Swing Band playing 'Oh Baby')
The Apex Jazz and Swing Band
Photograph courtesy of Newcastle Jazz Society
Membership is now around fifty, of whom thirty usually turn up each Wednesday. Entry is £5 at the door, but to meet the cost of the bands, the Society holds a raffle each week to bring in some extra money. Despite the financial restrictions, Peter is able to book bands from all over the West Midlands, and he also leads his marching band at local fairs and fetes.
Photograph courtesy of Newcastle Jazz Society
The Miners' Welfare Club is supported by former local Member of Parliament, Joan Walley, who was a member of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group at Westminster. Joan was born in Stoke-on-Trent and said ‘Regenerating the communities of the constituency is a must. That means working alongside local people and building local partnerships to deliver the improvements that are needed as the area undergoes structural change’. She has worked with, and has helped set up many local groups, and of the Jazz Society she said: ‘I am pleased we have a venue in my constituency. It is bringing new life into the traditional former Miners’ Welfare Club. Live music venues make a real difference and I hope that musicians from outside our area will support us’.
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© Sandy Brown Jazz 2014
2019 - We could find no current details of Newcastle Jazz Society and Joan Walley is no longer Member of Parliament. If anyone has more up to date information about the Society, please contact us.