The 128th Durham Big Meeting - 14/7/12

If you like heavy drinking, extreme colliery brass and political speeches, there's only one place to go and that's The Durham Miners' Gala, or Big Meeting as it's more usually known. Held every second weekend in July, it is a tradition unique to Durham City and has been held most peacetime years since 1871. The coal mines are now long gone, but their beautifully painted lodge banners and brass bands remain and the Gala carries on as a heritage event with real political teeth. This year, the speakers included the Murdoch-slaying MP, Tom Watson, Shami Chakrabarti from Liberty and two striking Spanish miners fresh in from the picket lines of Asturias. Best of all, we had the Leader Of The Labour Party, Ed Miliband. Traditionally, the Gala speakers have always included the Labour leader of the day, from Keir Hardie through to Clement Attlee and Harold Wilson, but none had condescended to turn up since Neil Kinnock in 1989 (despite the fact that Tony Blair's constituency was just around the corner in Sedgefield). Ed ended the 23 years of hurt with a rousing speech that warmed the hearts of the faithful and confirmed Durham's place at the heart of the national political debate. Seventy banners, fifty bands and a crowd of over 40,000 people 'getting their rights' cannot be written off so easily. As Dave Hopper, General Secretary of The Durham Miners Association put it: 'There's a world to be won. I hope Ed Miliband wins that world for us'.

Ed Miliband At Durham Miners' Gala

In Your Face Colliery Brass

Music For Solo Viola At Healey Church

St John's Church at Healey in Northumberland is hosting an evening of solo viola music on Saturday, the 8th of September 2012 at 7.30 pm. Bridget Carey will be performing pieces by Hildegard Of Bingen, Heinrich Biber, Gyorgi Ligerti, Gerald Grisey and Howard Skempton on viola, with electronics by Paul Archbold. The event is being co-ordinated by John Casken. Tickets are £10, available only in advance from thehotspur@gmail.com

Departure Of The Olympic Torch

Arrival Of The Olympic Torch

Hawkwind At Middlesbrough Town Hall 30/5/12

When I first saw Hawkwind back in 1980 at Newcastle City Hall, I never suspected that I'd be seeing them over 30 years later just down the road in Boro - or that they'd be just as good, if not better. Dave Brock is still at the helm on rhythm guitar and for someone who's well into bus pass territory, he's looking surprisingly up for it. We are talking over two hours of extended space rock/ambient jamming with dancers, light show and lengthy reworkings of old favourites such as Hassan-I Sahba, 'Psychedelic Warlords' and a 20 minute 'Damnation Alley'. I haven't a clue what Hawkwind are on, but it should be freely available to all on the NHS.

The Durham Ghost Zeppelin

I was walking through North End last Tuesday when I happened to glance up and see an astonishing sight. For there, hovering above me in the twilight, was the legendary Durham Ghost Zeppelin. I grabbed my mobile and quickly took these pictures before the apparition faded away into the darkness. You can clearly see the scale of it from the houses and trees in the street.

According to local folklore, the Durham Ghost Zeppelin is the spectre of the German naval airship L34 that was shot down in flames over Hartlepool on September 27th 1916. Ever since then, the phantom dirigible has been seen regularly, patrolling the skies over County Durham as if the First World War had never ended. Some witnesses have claimed that they could hear the distinctive throbbing sound of her Maybach petrol engines; others say that they could even hear the sinister sound of marching jackboots on the zeppelin's ghostly gangways.

German records say that the L34 had never been expected to fly that night back in 1916, due to a long spell of bad weather. In fact, the ship's commander, Kapitanleutnant Max Dietrich, had been celebrating his 46th birthday at the airbase, when, at the last minute, the orders were received to attack. The abrupt end to the festivities had left a sombre impression on the airship officers at the party, two of whom were destined to die that night. Perhaps it is this sense of grievance and unfinished business that drives the commander of the L34 and his ghostly crew ever onwards towards an inflatable eternity.

Local Playwright Makes Digital Debut

Renowned Durham City Theatre stalwart and open mic regular, Chris Neville-Smith, has set up a new website at http://www.chrisnevillesmith.info

Log on and you can follow his exploits as both actor and writer in the cut-throat world of DC’s theatreland.

De Stijl Debate Rages On In Durham City

Thanks to Janiece Spence for this image from last year's production of 'Crossing The Line' at the Durham City Theatre.