On the evening before St Cuthbert’s day, I was privileged to attend the launch of Between the Salt and the Ash, described by the publishers as a “non-fiction book (that) explores the natural beauty, landmarks and people of the North East of England. Taking the reader on a journey through time, from early Christian Britain to the Victorian era, the Industrial Revolution and up to the present day, it is a writer’s quest to understand the deep past and uncertain future of his homeland.
The event was well attended. We were introduced by James from OPT indie books, who said that it had been a pleasure to work with Manchester University publishing, getting the book Between the Salt and the Ash published the previous day.
James gave us a potted biography of himself, telling us how he was born in South Shields in 1988, is a BBC HRC new generation thinker, and has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing.
The main inspiration of Between the Salt and the Ash
Then, notable regional historian and writer Dan Jackson author of the Northumbrians asked Jake if he could tell the audience about Nick, the miners safety lamp, that Jake had brought along for the evening. This lamp was one of the main inspirations of his book, Between the Salt and the Ash.
Jake discussed the lamp, explaining that it was a beautiful object and that it had been his great grandfather’s mining safety lamp, a family heirloom. It was mentioned that during talks, people tend to gravitate towards the lamp and feel an affinity with it. Northumbria is a crucible of artistic endeavour and solid values and industry and these were all summed up by the lamp.
Jake went on to say how the book features artists and musicians and other creative people.
Prologue to the book Between the Salt and the Ash
This was followed by a reading from the prologue to the book about the Tyneside tradition of first footing at New Year. This is something I well remember doing, as I was the only truly dark-haired male in my immediate family. I can still remember, standing shivering on the doorstep in the snow – we had proper winters back then – about 1970, as the horns on the ships on the Tyne went off at midnight in unison. Similarly, Jake remembered as a small boy in the 1990’s, at two minutes to midnight, hearing the ship horns and the fireworks and his grandad first footing.
Jake had been given lamp by his grandmother, and it had been the only source of light for her father when he was working under the North Sea.
Jake also went on to talk about how the Lindisfarne Gospels had been inspired by Celtic Christianity and a wonderful global palate of Christian influences but wondered just what it has to do with working class from Tyneside.
Mining the Heart of Many Lives
Dan Jackson suggested that mining had been at the heart of so many lives, but the consciousness of the traditions and the work is starting to slip. There is still an element of nostalgia, which can be controversial, but we are drawn to mining, The miners themselves had a love hate relationship with mining, as it was hard, dangerous work, but there was a tremendous camaraderie and community spirit. Dan wondered if our connection with that world was slipping from our collective consciousness is the Northeast.
By way of reply, Jake talked of how he could just about remember when the tower at Westoe Colliery came down in 1993 when he was 5 years old. Jake went on to say that he was now trying to pry open the gap to the working-class life of the past and remember that. “We did used to make stuff” Jake was also concerned that a new generation wouldn’t get it…
Dan Jackson remarked that we lost the shipyards and mines all of 30 years ago, but the old industry and its loss still casts a long shadow especially for males, who perhaps miss the heroic, breadwinner role.
Jake replied that it can take many years to process a death in family and that it can be the same with social change.
Between the Salt and the Ash explores interesting places
Dan Jackson then reminded us that Between the Salt and the Ash explored a number of interesting places and somewhat forgotten places and he asked Jake if there was there anything that surprised him on his Camino…
Jake responded that when coming back to the Northeast – he now lives in Oswestry near the Welsh/English border, said to be named after a tree connected to Northumbrian king Oswald who is said to have been killed in battle there in around 641 – he can see both the failings and the many good attributes of our region more closely .
Dan Jackson also noted that many places in the Northeast have been places that are associated with an unjust transition from the days of heavy industry to what we see today but wondered if Jake had come across any surprising positive and fair transitions.
Jake responded by talking about the many lovely fishing villages up the Northumberland coast, but how there were not many people about, due to many of the dwellings there being second homes and described it as the Cornwallisation of Northumberland.
Material Poverty
Meanwhile Southeast Northumberland still has a great deal of material poverty, but the old mining town of Ashington still has 33 000 people living in it and there is hope for the future.
At this point, Dan Jackson pointed out that a number of streets in Ashington are named after Shakespearean characters, such as Ariel Street, named after the character from The Tempest.
Jake argued that something creative has been obscured in Northumbria, with the way politics has gone, but he would be reminded when he was young that the 1930’s were worse. There are cultural things happening in the region, like Bolbec Hall becoming a substantial base for New Writing North.
An “ongoing movement for Northeast creativity”
Jake described what he called the “ongoing movement for Northeast creativity”, the rebuilding of our creative foundations as a region and commented that when studying poetry and literature he could remember thinking at the age of 19, how he had not read a single poem or novel from Northeast and wondering why that was. With the efforts of people like Jake and many, many others that kind of situation will not face students in the future.
Dan Jackson continued by commenting that the Between the Salt and the Ash contained ideas around boundaries and fault lines in Northumbria and Jake responded by saying that Warkworth Castle in Northumberland was on an invisible line between North Northumberland and the old coalfield area, but that even Amble is now starting to have second homes!
This was followed by another reading about crossing the Tyne, another of our physical and mental boundaries. Jake talked of crossing the river on Pride of the Tyne, a ferry built at Swan Hunter’s shipyard up the river at Wallsend. He also talked of the wonderful reputation for peaceful co-habitation in South Shields, after the assimilation of the Yemeni community in the 20th century.
Northeast Identity
Dan Jackson then asked Jake for his views on the strong Northeast identity
Jake remarked that his hometown of South Shields was split between allegiance to Newcastle or Sunderland, but also that sailors had long brought in food and other cultural effects from other places. Jake also said firmly that the doesn’t want to be tied down to parochial identities within Northumbria and how they can simply reinforce Southeast and London ideas that we are just thick Geordies.
Dan Jackson then talked of how we now have a regional mayoral position after what he understandably described as a difficult 100 years, since the Treaty of Versailles saw the Northeast lose many of its coal export markets, while crucial decisions about our region had been more and more made elsewhere. He then went on to make the excellent point that people in Northumbria used to sort put their own problems and just get on and do it. citing the proliferation of Aged Miners Homes as evidence. Dan asked if maybe we need to address the fact that so many decisions are made elsewhere and how we can sort things out and take more control of our destiny.
Jake responded by commenting that if we could decentralise culture, we could then see what the new generation of Northumbrians can do. This is something which has struck me before; we perhaps need to do what the Scots have done over the last 100 years, led by people like the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, and take back control of pour culture and our heritage and in so doing take control of our destiny.
Between the Salt and the Ash and Spirituality in the Northeast
Dan Jackson ended by mentioning how Between the Salt and the Ash is also about spirituality in the Northeast and about a search for spirituality today. People like Cuthbert and Bede were in the centre of organised religion, much of which has declined now, but the book is about a searching for the effects of Christianity and its heritage and values.
Jake talked about walking into the cathedral in Durham and feeling that it was the heart and soul of the region. He agreed that he was searching for a bigger sense of purpose and moral principles and some kind of Christian values, especially as some things that were integral to our region are absent now. Appropriately, Jake then read the conclusion part of the book about the idea of pilgrimage.
Our culture and heritage: going forward
This was a stimulating conversation between two cultural heavyweights from Northumbria and there was much said which we can ponder on, as we go forward and try to find, at last, a real path forward following the end of our era of heavy industry. The key would appear to be rebuilding our self-confidence as a region, missing since the 1920’s, remembering the ways that we touched greatness on a global scale in the past and take control of our culture and our destiny.
Then we can perhaps truly add new chapters to our Northumbrian story, which can fill us with as much pride as some of the earlier chapters do.
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