Melancholy music is beautiful

THE melancholy and haunting voices of the Unthank sisters complemented perfectly the sad story of the grimy North East shipyards told in Richard Fenwick’s short film.

The five-strong band called at Stratford during their nationwide tour of towns and cities with historical links to shipbuilding, such as Barrow, Glasgow and Belfast. Why they were in Stratford was something of a mystery, but never mind, the Warwickshire audience were delighted to see them.

The film charted the history of the shipyards from their glory days early in the 20th century to their gradual demise at the end of the century. We saw huge ships (cruise liners, warships and oil tankers) sliding slowly down the slipway at their official launch, towering over the tiny terraced houses of the workers. But the film also captured the character of the workforce, men with craggy, dirty faces doing hard, dangerous work with a pride and passion.

Rachel and Becky Unthank, accompanied by Niopha Keegan (violin), Chris Price (guitar) and Adrian McNally (piano) summed it up beautifully with the song Only Remembered: “They can steal our future but they can’t steal our glory.”

Peter Gawthorpe