Ah went to Blaydon Races ...

A painting, a song and a few words..

William Irving's painting 'Blaydon Races - a Study from Life.'

“Ah went to Blaydon Races, ‘twas on the ninth of Joon,

In eighteen hundred an’ sixty-two, on a summer’s afterneun;”

In my meander earlier this week, I mentioned George 'Geordie' Ridley, a renowned figure in northeast England, and his iconic song 'Blaydon Races'. Given that today is the anniversary of the Blaydon Races, I decided to meander more into the story behind the song.

John Balmbra opened 'Balmbra's Music Hall' in 1848 as a room in the pub he ran called the 'Wheatsheaf Inn' on the Cloth Market in central Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Some fourteen years later, on June 5th, Geordie Ridley sang 'Blaydon Races' there for the first time.

The song lyrics tell of the short journey by bus from Newcastle to Blaydon for a horse race meeting. Ridley mentions various real-life characters and incidents along the way, adding a colourful narrative to the song that acts as an advertisement for the event, capturing the excitement and anticipation of the race day. Although the characters and many places mentioned in the song are long gone, their names are still familiar to the people of northeast England today.

The first horse race meeting in Blaydon was held some fifty years earlier than Ridley's song. It was just one part of a big social event and community celebration. The meeting started as a 'point to point' on land where Blaydon railway station now stands. Other attractions were the local keelmen doing sword dancing and the 'Hoppings', a travelling village fun fair.

The building of the railway line through Blaydon in 1835 ended the race meeting. 1861 saw its revival using a circular track of about one mile circumference on 'Blaydon Island' in the River Tyne between Blaydon, on the south bank, and the town of Newburn on the north bank. Most racegoers travelled to the island on small ferry boats or keel boats from the Blaydon side. Access from the north was over boggy ground from Newburn.

That first meeting, ending with an evening dance at the Mechanic's Hall in Blaydon, was an enormous success, resulting in a repeat the following year, on June 9th, 1862. After Ridley's inaugural performance of his new song a few days earlier, he again performed 'Blaydon Races' in the Mechanic's Hall on the evening after the meeting, after which the song soon became a favourite of the region.

Despite the race meeting's closure in 1916 amidst controversy of race fixing and crowd disorder, the spirit of the song endured, becoming a cherished anthem for the Newcastle area. To this day, it's sung at public gatherings, football matches, and other events as a testament to its enduring popularity and the deep nostalgia it evokes.

A significant celebration of the races took place at the centenary on June 9th, 1962. Interestingly, the date in the song rather than on the first meeting the year before. This grand parade, starting at Balmbras and ending at Blaydon, included decorated floats, vintage vehicles, etc. Thousands of people turned out to see it, proving the enduring popularity and cultural significance of the Blaydon Races. A similar event took place on June 9th, 2012, to celebrate 150 years, further cementing the race's place in local history.

In truth, while the lyrics are Ridley's, he took the tune from 'On the Road to Brighton'—not the one in England's Sussex but a place near Boston in the USA. That song describes the adventures of 'three fast boys' who hire a horse-drawn wagon. They get involved in various fracas, skidding horses, fights, black eyes, and drunkenness. 

Here’s Ridley’s song. While the singer offers it in subdued folkist tones rather than as a fill-throated anthem, I thought the accompanying photographs might be of interest…

And here are some extracts from the song in the Geordie vernacular, along with a little about the people and places Ridley mentions. Therein lies a mystery. Ridley's parents were illiterate, and he didn't go to school but instead went into the coal mines as a 'trapper' (boys stationed at doors in the mine that they must open when trams of coal pass through. Then at once close them again, as a means of directing the airflow for ventilation) aged eight with little opportunity to read and write and yet learn to write he clearly did...

"...Aa took a bus from Balmbra's and she was heavy laden

Away we went doon Collingwood Street that's on the road to Blaydon"

Collingwood Street is named after Admiral Collingwood, who took over command of the British fleet after Nelson's death at Trafalgar.

"...We flew past Armstrong's factory, reet up te the Robin Adair"

W.G. Armstrong first set up his armaments works west of Newcastle in 1847. When Ridley wrote the song, Armstrong's factory's success was transforming the area. Belief is that at its peak, the factory was the biggest in the world, with engineering shops running four miles west of Newcastle along the Scotswood Road.

As the 19th century progressed, the three miles of Scotswood Road blossomed into a social hub as a rapidly expanding workforce needed housing. Scotswood Road became renowned for its 44 pubs, one on every street corner and, on average, only some one hundred yards apart. The Robin Adair was one such establishment. However, the 1960s saw a wave of demolitions along the Scotswood Road, wiping out all the pubs and terraced housing.

"Just gannin' doon te the railway bridge, the bus wheel flew off there

The lasses lost thor crinolines and the veils that hid thor faces..."

The mention of the bus accident was an occurrence that befell a party of racegoers for the first race meeting held the year before.

"But them that had their noses broke, they came back ower hyem

Some went te the dispensary and some to Doctor Gibbs's"

Dr. Gibb, a compassionate and fair-minded man, was originally a 'house surgeon' at Newcastle's Old Infirmary. He later set up a private practice on Westgate Road in the middle of Newcastle, where he became a beloved figure in the community. His consultation fee was a modest 2/6d (about £10 today), and his popularity among the community reflected his genuine care and concern for his patients.

"Noo when we got to Paradise there was bonny game begun"

Paradise was an area of housing west of Newcastle, close to the Armstrong Works, and was, more or less, the midpoint travelling west between Newcastle and Blaydon.

"They called on me to sing a song, I sung them Paddy Fagan"

Paddy Fagan is an old Irish song in Geordie Ridley's repertoire. At this time, due to the potato famine and poverty in Ireland and a massive expansion in jobs in Northeast England and Scotland due to the Industrial Revolution, there was substantial immigration of Irish workers to Tyneside.

"We flew across the Chine Bridge, reet into Blaydon Toon"

The Chine (chain) Bridge was a suspension bridge over the Tyne, linking Scotswood with Blaydon. It's said to have been probably the most attractive of all the Tyneside bridges at the time. However, as traffic volumes increased, it could not cope and then demolished and replaced in 1967. 

"The bellman he was caallin' there, they caalled him Jackie Broon"

Jackie Broon (Brown) was the town crier in Blaydon. His grave is in the cemetery beside my house. The ringing of his bell marks the start of a road race, which follows the route of Ridley's song, held each year on this day.

"Aa saw him talkin' to some cheps and them he was persuadin'

Te gan and see Geordie Ridley's show in The Mechanics Haall at Blaydon"

The Mechanics Hall was one of the many trade clubs during Victorian times. Members would relax with a drink, play darts, dominoes, billiards, etc., and enjoy the conversation and camaraderie of their workmates. The part of Blaydon where the hall stood was subject to compulsory purchase for redevelopment in the 1960s, and the hall was then demolished.

"The rain it poured doon aal the day and made the groond quite muddy

Coffee Johnny had a white hat on – they yelled 'we stole the cuddy?'"

Coffee (or Coffy) Johnny was a blacksmith in the village of Winlaton, close to Blaydon. He was also a trumpeter in the Winlaton Brass Band, a bare-knuckle boxer and a Geordie celebrity. He was well known for his tall height and for wearing a white top hat. His nickname comes from his predilection for the beverage.

And if you're wondering, cuddy is Geordie for a horse (and ‘we’ means ‘who’)...