New song focuses on the life of Barrow Boys at Bridlington station
A local musician has written a song as a tribute to Bridlington’s Barrow Boys.
Mick Smith, who performs charity gigs with Band from The Pub, used personal testimony to craft the song and document the lives of the hard-working children.
The Barrow Boys earned a small fee by using wheelbarrows to carry holidaymakers’ luggage to hotels and guesthouses between the 1930s and the early 1980s.
Last year, a new sculpture remembering the work of the Barrow Boys was unveiled at the town’s station – when the idea of a song first took place.
Mr Smith said: “At the unveiling of the statue, I was talking to a Flamborough fisherman called Alan Wiles who was a Barrow Boy.
“I went to see him afterwards and he told me all about the work, there was definitely enough to develop a song. However, I struggled to remember everything he said.
“Luckily his wife Sophie had wrote everything down that we had discussed.
“At first I sat on the information, then sadly Alan died while bringing in his crab pots and that spurred me on to write the tribute to the boys.
“In his memory I wrote the song, based on the details he gave me.
"A friend of mine then said we should record the song and we made a video, which we placed on Facebook.”
The video was filmed by Jeffrey Yerrell, who organises regular fundraising events in the Flamborough area, and features Eli as a barrow boy.
Mick is a regular at the Village Stage sessions in Flamborough, where local musicians play live with proceeds raised going to causes in this area.
The events have supported the RNLI, the Bridlington Stroke group, Flamborough Village Hall and Right Minds.
Out of these gatherings, five musicians then joined forces to form Band from the Pub.
Band from the Pub will be performing at Bridlington Links on Saturday, October 18 at 7.30pm to raise much-needed money for Flamborough Bowls Club.
Why not go along and enjoy live music while supporting a worthwhile cause?
Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership worked with Northern and Network Rail to deliver the Barrow Boys artwork project, which was sculpted by Stephen Carvill.
Go to tinyurl.com/4spka2tn to watch Mick Smith’s video, which was filmed at Bridlington Railway Station.
The song can also be seen on Geoff Yerrell’s YouTube site at tinyurl.com/49mxzs35
Visit tinyurl.com/2shfjp73 to find out more about Band from the Pub.