THE poet and writer Jake Morris-Campbell was born in South Shields in 1988. My family came from a couple of miles to the north of there, on the other side of the River Tyne. A lot of my parents’ generation were concerned to get away from the north-east, so that they could “get on” in life: move south, lose the accent, get a decent job — that sort of thing.
Morris-Campbell’s family stayed. They will have witnessed first-hand some of the bewildering ebb and flow of the landscape and culture which affected the north-east of England in a relatively short time, the most obvious of which was arguably the decline of the mining industry. His book begins with a family ritual, for the new year, which involves a piece of coal and his grandfather’s old miner’s lamp. This is a catalyst for what follows. The author takes us on the pilgrimage that he decided to walk, alone sometimes, but often with friends, from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the north, down the Northumbrian coast, to Durham in the south.
On the way, he reflects on the past, and describes the change and (sometimes) decay that he sees around him. The result is not a facile celebration of the past, but a true appreciation of what the author sees around him, a renewal of the spirit to carry on: “. . . I reflect on heritage, culture, language — all of these things my work has been stewing on for so long and which I’m still not sure how to talk about.
“But I know it has something to do with keeping the torch burning: not following the past back to its dead-end and becoming mired in sentimentality, but building outwards from there, following the grooves of all who’ve gone before, taking courage and heart from the tracks they’ve set down, grasping at the torch they’ve offered to you, then striking out once again.”
This is a fabulous book. It is a work of sacramental theology, although the author might not see it that way: it celebrates the past, intensely observes the present, and so points hopefully to the future. It makes me want to go back up north and stay there.
The Revd Peter McGeary is the Vicar of St Mary’s, Cable Street, in east London.
Between the Salt and the Ash: A journey into the soul of Northumbria
Jake Morris-Campbell
Manchester University Press £20
(978-1-5261-7537-3)
Church Times Bookshop £18