Poetry Extra: The Miners' Way

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

The Miners' Way

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, The Miners' Way

Daljit Nagra chooses the best programmes from the BBC's poetry archive.

Daljit Nagra selects Jane Clarke -The Miners' Way featuring the Irish poet who is inspired by the walk in County Wicklow.  From 2020.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive and, in the week that the TS Eliot prize is announced [14.1.2024] he chooses to feature a programme about one of the nominees - Jane Clarke - shortlisted for her collection A Change in the Air.   

The Irish poet Jane Clarke lives in Glenmalure, a remote and rugged valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. The valley marks the start of the Miners' Way, a long-distance path developed by a local community group, traversing three Wicklow valleys, Glenmalure, Glendalough and Glendasan, and taking in six old, disused mine sites.

The Miners' Way has inspired Jane to write a sequence of poems responding to this rich natural and cultural heritage.

As she walks the Miners' Way, Jane meets some of her neighbours - local historian Carmel O'Toole, farmer Pat Dunne and mountain leader Charles O’Byrne.

She also visits Robbie Carter, one of the few people who can talk first-hand about working in these valleys in the mining industry, which came to an end in 1957. Now in his 80s, Robbie became a miner at the age of 16. He describes his life as a miner in the mid-20th century and the story of a fatal mining accident in January 1957. Robbie was seriously injured and never worked in a mine again.

The poems in the programme by Jane Clarke include Birthing the Lamb from her 2019 collection When the Tree Falls. 

All other poems are inspired by the landscape, heritage and stories of the Miners’ Way. 

Producer: Claire Cunningham

Executive Producer: Julien Clancy

A Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2020.

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