THERE’S been a beacon of songwriting shining from the Teeside area for several decades, in the persona of Graeme Miles, whose songs have played an integral part in proclaiming the working class culture of the industrial North across the world for as long as the folk scene has been going.

Tonight at Skelton’s Duke William, home of the Cutty Wren Folk Club, there’s a presentation of The Songs of Ironopolis, a salute to Miles’ vast catalogue of words and melodies, and a fond tribute to the man himself, who continues to write to this day.

Elsewhere across the region, Rosie Stewart is at Blaydon’s Black Bull tonight, Clive Gregson is at The Station in Loftus tomorrow, and on Saturday we can choose between Ray Storr at Mickleby’s White Hart, Clair Mann and Aaron Jones at Washington’s Davy Lamp, and a sing-around at the Ship in Middleston Village.

Sunday sees Cliff Healey at Guisborough Rugby Club, and Wendy Arrowsmith at Westoe Club in South Shields, and then on Monday, Spindrift are at Stockton’s Sun Inn.

Tuesday’s choice is between Andy Clarke at Darlington’s Britannia and Steve Hicks and Lyn Gouldbourn at Cramlington’s Hind.

I notice also that there’s a current upsurge of interest in sea-shanties, spearheaded by The Fishermen’s Friends, a West Country choir which specialises in songs of the sea, and who have landed a major record deal and made numerous TV appearances in recent months.

They are not unique in their approach of course, and you can find other similar choirs all over the world, with one led by Benny Graham springing to mind for us locally.

Tomorrow BBC4 TV, at 9pm, has a special hour-long programme devoted to sea songs and shanties, though I suspect the actual “folk” elements will be thin on the ground, judging by the preview blurb. Worth a look though.