Sunderland's Lake Poets works with choir and brass band to create folk song about post-industrial decline to help mark 200 years of Hetton Colliery Railway

Marty Longstaff, aka The Lake Poets, has been commissioned by The Cultural Spring to produce an original piece of music as part of a cultural programme marking the bicentenary.

The Cultural Spring is working with Sunderland City Council and others on a number of projects to celebrate the Railway and the Stephenson Trail.

The railway was the first in the world to use only steam and gravity power. It transported coal from Elemore and Hetton pits to the River Wear in Sunderland. The Stephenson Trail traces the route of the railway from Elemore Park, formerly Elemore Golf Course.

Funding comes from the Neighbourhood Funds of Sunderland City Council’s East, West and Coalfields areas.

Marty has composed a nine-minute piece which he is developing with Sunderland Male Voice Choir and Houghton Area Brass Band. They hope to perform it live and will record it in a local studio.

Marty said: “The song is really a folk song about post-industrial decline; about something that was there and then it wasn’t. I wanted it to reflect the experiences of those working in the mines, but also what local people must have thought about the new railway.

“I’ve not often worked with a choir before so it’s an interesting experience and one I’m really enjoying. The flexibility of having so many voices and the range of the voices, presents plenty of possibilities. The song is slow-burn. But the voices help build the piece into a crescendo.”

Working with partners including charity Hetton Colliery Railway 200 (HCR 200), The Cultural Spring is creating a celebration programme.

Emma Horsman, project director of The Cultural Spring, said: “We hope that through this varied programme we have something to interest everyone in the communities on and around the Stephenson Trail.

“This is a milestone anniversary of an iconic railway and we want to make sure the celebrations reflect the importance of it to the local communities.”

The programme also includes projects on photography, coal mining and oral histories and a trailmarkers project. A Stephenson Community Exhibition will tour venues along the Stephenson Trail between September and November.

For more information visit www.theculturalspring.org/stephenson-trail.