<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> welcome to Banded Together

Welcome to the "bandedtogether" website, a sister project of "leglessproductions"

 

This moving, articulate and compelling CD faithfully recreates the story of the 1898 Whitwick No.5 Pit Disaster in which 35 men and boys were tragically lost. The underground fire was so intense that it proved impossible to recover all of the bodies and thus some souls remain beneath the Leicestershire soil to this day.

The dramatic events portrayed on the CD captures the humour, camaraderie, fear ,terror and resilience of the men, women and boys of this mining community. It was a community intrinsically and wholly locked together in this most tragic sequence of events. The voices, spoken by actors, transports the listener to a time and place long lost and enables an empathetic awareness of how these terrible moments might have felt.

Employing spoken drama, music and narration the CD paints the emotional human aspects of the disaster and opens a cultural and historical audio window upon the lives, times and experiences of this close knit village huddling on the outskirts of the Leicestershire town of Coalville. The sense of devastation arising from this, the County`s largest mining accident, impacted as surely and completely as a rampaging plague leaving a whole community wounded and alone to mourn its loss. The cruel legacy of this most human of disasters continues to be felt to this day in this small corner of the County.

The CD is written and produced by Brian Langtry and Legless Productions.

The CD is available by sending a cheque for £12 to Legless productions, 50 Marlborough Way, Ashby de la Zouch, Leics. Payment can also be made by PayPal. The piece can be obtained by download from Brian priced at £8. Brian can be contacted at brian@langtry.fslife.co.uk or by telephone 01530 416251.

Brian Langtry`s plays and other works by various authors are available from:

 

   

Brian Langtry has been a resident of Ashby de la Zouch since 1987. He is a playwright, musician, director, producer, and occasional actor having some 35 plays published across both the professional and amateur markets. National tours include " The Eva Cassidy Story " ( 9 U.K. and European tours ). " The Billie Holiday Story " ( 3 U.K. and European tours). " Hello I`m Johnny Cash " ( UK and Studio tours 2005/2006 ) and many performances of his full length and one act plays within the amateur field.

 

He was the founder member of the Black Country`s favourite folk group " Giggetty " who between 1971 and 1987 made many appearances on national and local TV; hosted their own local radio programme for 3 years, produced 9 albums, wrote music for BBC radio and TV documentaries, jingles and theme music. Giggetty performed over a 100 gigs per year for the whole period.

 

 

 

   
             

 

     
Banded Together- The Live Show

THE LIVE SHOW is an emotional and poignant piece of living Leicestershire history suitable for societies, schools, theatres and special events.

A running time of 44 minutes and the piece can be coupled with other works-a one act play or musical event- for a complete and memorable evening of entertainment.

Conceived from Brian Langtry`s audio/documentary CD " Banded Together ", it uses a multi media approach combining live music,dramatic narration and a film slide show accompanying the audio dialogue from the CD.

A big thank you to Goff Lewis and N.W.Leicestershire District Council for all their help and support.

The Rt.Hon.David Taylor M.P. N.W.Leicestershire attended the launch of "THE LIVE SHOW" and commented-

".....looks at and dramatises in the most remarkable fashion the events of the Whitwick Pit disaster."

To see a short film of extracts from the " Banded Together " Live Show please follow the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/brianlangtry

Banded Together will be performed at the following Venues:

2009

12th. September- Snibstone Century Theatre

2010

6th. March- Ashby Venture Theatre

April 18th.- Broadcast of the entire CD "Banded Together" Hermitage Radio FM at 8.00pm

April 19th.- Broadcast Repeat as above on the Anniversary of the tragedy

May 20/21/22nd.- Paupers Pit, Buxton

Sept.25th.- Thringstone Community Centre

October 29th. -John Moore School, Appleby Magna

2011

Sat.5th. March- "Sharpe`s pottery Museum" Swadlincote

24th. September 2011- Leicester Guild Hall

15th. October 2011- Market Harborough Theatre

26th. November 2011- The Grange Playhouse Theatre, Walsall

Bookings are now being taken for 2011 and 2012

Contact Brian Langtry on 01530 416251 or e-mail

brian@langtry.fslife.co.uk