"Blaydon Races" (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

#3511) is a

Geordie Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

written in the 19th century by

Geordie Ridley Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...

, in a style deriving from

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

. It is frequently sung by supporters of

Newcastle United Football Club Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

rugby club, and

Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Durham. Founded in 1882, Du ...

. Blaydon is a small town in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, situated about from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, in

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. The race used to take place on the Stella Haugh west of Blaydon. Stella South Power Station (demolished in 1995) was built on the site of the track in the early 1950s, after the races had stopped taking place in 1916.

Lyrics

Blaydon Races Picture by William Irving at the Shipley Aret Gallery

The song is quoted from the author's manuscript in Allan's as follows: \relative c'' Tune: "Brighton".

History

Ridley sang the song at a concert in Balmbra's Music Hall on 5 June 1862. It is likely that on this occasion the song ended with the exhortation to see Ridley's show on 9 June, and that the final verse was added for that later performance. Although the account of the trip to Blaydon is a fiction, the heavy rain and missing cuddy (horses) were reported in the local press.

Places mentioned

"Scotswood Road" was and still is a long road parallel to the left bank of the river Tyne, running westwards from Newcastle city to

Benwell and Scotswood Benwell and Scotswood is an electoral ward of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. The ward encompasses the Benwell and Scotswood housing areas, as well as the Newcastle Business Park, which is located on the banks of the River Tyne a ...

, and which at the time of the song ran through industrial and working-class areas. " Airmstrang's

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

" was a large engineering works at Elswick, which made large guns and other firearms. The "Robin Adair" was a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

on Scotswood Road which has since been demolished.

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

is a reference to the small village which stood where the Vickers now stands.

150th anniversary campaign

In December 2010 an online petition was launched calling for "...a clear and sustained commitment on the part of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead Councils to work hand-in-hand with the Geordie people...to help deliver an appropriate celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mr George Ridley's world-famous anthem of Tyneside." On 9 November 2011,

Chi Onwurah Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (born 12 April 1965) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central since 2010. She was shadow minister for Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation u ...

MP presented a parliamentary petition to the Speaker of the House of Commons in support of the campaign. From August 2011, campaign group members were in discussions with the two councils. As a result of these discussions, the core campaign objective of delivering an on-street event on the actual anniversary of 9 June 2012 was achieved. A series of additional "satellite" events were also organised including a week-long beer festival at The Hotspur pub, Percy Street, Newcastle upon Tyne on the night of 9 June 2012.

Modern race

The Blaydon Race is a 5.9-mile athletics race from Newcastle to Blaydon that takes place on 9 June every year and starts off with the singing of 'The Blaydon Races', as the words are used as the basis for the whole race.

Other uses

* "Blaydon Races" is often used as a chant by supporters of

. * The song was adopted as its marching anthem by the British Army Infantry soldiers of the Fifth of Foot (

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution an ...

), of

Fenham Barracks Fenham Barracks is a military installation in Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. History The site was acquired by the War Office from Newcastle Corporation in 1804 and, following the construction of three barrack blocks, became the home of units ...

, Newcastle upon Tyne. Today it is the Regimental Song of The

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part of ...

, the modern descendants of The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. * In November 2009 a charity version of 'Blaydon Races' was recorded by

Jimmy Nail James Michael Aloysius Bradford (born 16 March 1954), known as Jimmy Nail, is an English singer-songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer. He played the role of Leonard "Oz" Osborne in the television show ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' a ...

Kevin Whately Kevin Whately (born 6 February 1951) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Neville "Nev" Hope in the British comedy drama ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'', Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the crime dramas ''Inspector Morse'' 1987–2000 and ...

and Tim Healy, from the cast of ''

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' () is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in ...

'', in aid of the

Sir Bobby Robson Foundation The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is a British cancer research charity which raises money to fund the early detection and treatment of cancer, and clinical trials of anti-cancer drugs. Based in the North East of England, the Foundation was launch ...

, featuring an additional verse about him. * William Irving's 1903 painting. 'The Blaydon Races – A Study from Life' is on show at the

Shipley Art Gallery The Shipley Art Gallery is an art gallery in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, located at the south end of Prince Consort Road. It has a Designated Collection of national importance. Origins The Shipley Art Gallery opened to the public in 1 ...

in Gateshead. The painting depicts the fairground festivities associated with the race.

Recordings

* ''The

Friends of Fiddler's Green Friends of Fiddler's Green is a Canadian folk music group based in Toronto founded in 1971 and still active as of 2018. The members of the group at the time of its first recording, 1981's ''This Side of the Ocean'', were Alistair Brown, Tam Kearne ...

'' on ''The Road to Mandalay'', 1994 * Bob Davenport and The Marsden Rattlers, released in 1971 on "BBC's Folk on 2 presents Northumbrian Folk" (BBC Records REC 118S P, UK, 1971 * In the opening scenes of ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'' (2013) the song playing in the background on an organ is "The Blaydon Races"

Notes

External links

Blaydon Races 1962 Centenary
{{Newcastle United F.C. English folk songs Football songs and chants Songs related to Newcastle upon Tyne 1862 songs Northumbrian folklore Scotswood