China Town


	In China Town we try to celebrate the pottery industry that has always been linked with Stoke-on-Trent, but also show how historically the beautiful objects we associate with Wedgwood, Doulton and others were produced by craftsmen and labourers who worked in often appalling conditions.


	With about 2000 bottle ovens in the Potteries, when they were firing the city was covered by a pall of thick black smoke.


	We wrote China Town in 2004-5 and the first performance was at Cleckheaton Folk Festival in 2005.


	Jeff took the opportunity to introduce two new instruments into the set. The first was this Indian harmonium. And the other was a kind of 5-string ukelele he picked up in Lanzarote called a timple ("teemplay").


	We have since done the show at Four Fools and Chippenham Festivals and on Radio Stoke.


	THE SONGS:

	All the Tea in China This is the introductory song which hints in a light-hearted way at some of the hazards of working in the pottery industry.

Small Beginnings

describes the beginning of pottery making as a part-time craft by local farmers in North Staffordshire in the 17th century.


	Raw Flint and Stone recalls the transportation of clay from the West Country to the Potteries by pack-horse in the days before the canals.

	On the Cut celebrates the building of the Trent and Mersey Canal which connected the Potteries to the port of Liverpool and cut transport costs by a massive 85%

	It's a Hard Life on the Pots goes into more detail about conditions in the pottery industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

	Clay End Kids laments the plight of the child labourers who worked on the potbanks in the 19th century.

	Humpers and Whirlers Potters were paid piecework using a system called "good from oven" which meant that they were only paid for the pieces that were fired successfully. This song is about the Selector, who examined the ware for flaws.

The Saggar Maker's Bottom Knocker

A bit of silliness about an occupation that has become legendary, but actually existed. That's him on the right.

The Final Firing

is about the last bottle oven to be fired in the Potteries - a good thing for health and the environment but still an occasion for regret over lost skills and expertise.

China Town

brings us up to the present day, when sadly most of the pottery manufacturing has been exported to low-wage areas in the East, including by a supreme irony, China


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