SKINNINGROVE 

Our valley starts down near the sea then stretches far inland,
It is our home our heritage something we understand,
From here we helped to build the world and really proud we feel,
Famous for our mermaid and famous for our steel,
We played our part in days gone by, with Romans, maybe most,
With their camps and settlements, and lookout on our coast,
John Paul Jones paid his respects, with cannon from the sea,
But we survived from his broadside, and now it’s history,
We dug for iron, dug for jet, a harbour once had we,
And through this work this toil and strain, our village always free,
A village, that is all it is, we cannot say a town,
But we have lived so happy here, so why come pull us down,
They give us reasons by the score, they say no natural light,
Just take a short trip, look around, then come back and fight,
Our valley is wide open, fame and fortune all have we,
Surrounded by the countryside yet living by the sea,
A wealth in itself our Skinningrove, the place where we all dwell,
A greatness we could never buy, nor ever want to sell.

Pem Holliday February 1975