Meet The Crumlins! A family of magical soot creatures who live in an abandoned mine. They want clean energy to help save the earth, but they don't want to be forgotten

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N.B., Banner design by the always awesome Nick Toye

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Let’s take ourselves down to the edge of the land,

Cross a very long bridge and past marching brass bands

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The language sounds funny and different down here

With two words on each signpost (but one word is unclear)

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The hills are quite beautiful, tall and so proud

And the waterfalls whoosh so incredibly loud!

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As you go further the hills get much taller

The roads sink below them, and you feel much smaller

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Follow them down and they shrink to small alleys

Which lead to a magical place called The Valleys

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The Valleys were once full of men who mine coal

But now down here often you won’t see a soul

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The mining of coal is a very old trade,

(It’s how many parts of The Valleys were made)

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Coal is a mineral, dug from the ground,

It’s black as the night and it’s shaped kind of round

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Miners were men digging pits in the land

Deeper and deeper for that dark coal so grand

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Now the mines all lie quiet, dormant and crumbling

But lean in and listen… you’ll hear a faint rumbling

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Because there in the dark, right down at the bottom

Made of black coal dust, alone and forgotten

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Live a family of Crumlins, the last of their kind

And this story will tell how they saved this old mine

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You see back in the old days the miners were busy

They worked so very hard that they made themselves dizzy

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The folks in the Valleys all needed their coal

To light fires in their houses to keep away cold

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But as you will learn, coal only lasted so long

And that meant the Crumlins got less and less strong…

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Now the mine in The Valley is dark and forgotten,

And the windows and chimneys are terribly rotten,

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The doors look like a yawn from a horrible mouth

They grin at the homes on the road to the South

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But there in the dark you’ll find Ma and Pa Crumlin

And small Crumlin babies, rolling and tumbling

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These Crumlins all live at the base of the mine,

(They’d stayed in that pit for the longest of time)

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On thin spiky limbs made of dust from the coal

They’re black as the night and they’re ever so cold

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Their eyes sparkle like diamonds down there in the gloom

But the rest of the Crumlins have met a sad doom

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The Crumlins (you know now) were made out of dust,

The dust from the coal now gave way to the rust

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They’d once been created by men from the mine

(Who dug up the coal to stay warm all the time)

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They picked up their axes and went down in the pit,

Chipping the dark coal, by bit and by bit

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They’d dig in the mine shafts, deeper and deeper,

The dust from the coal getting thicker and thicker,

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And the coal dust would gather in their hair and their curls

And when a breeze blew, it made little dust swirls

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With the swooshing of axes, the breezes got stronger,

And the dust swirled around for longer and longer,

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The swirls from the coal dust got all stuck together,

And Crumlins were forming - what could be better!

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The new little Crumlins covered the mine,

Thousands of families, dusty but fine

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They clung to the walls with their spiky dust arms

Stuck their legs in small cracks, safe from all harm

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Their mineral eyes all twinkled and shone

The whole mine just sparkled - before they were gone

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But slowly the miners that swirled up the dust

Weren’t cheerful and whistling - but full of mistrust

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The line of old miners grew shorter and shorter,

And no spoke up except one Crumlin daughter

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She said to Pa Crumlin;

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“What’s happened that’s different?

The mine men aren’t swirling the dust in the distance

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"Only a few come to get coal here each day,

And now they look sad when they’re going away"

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"Without all the miners us Crumlins are dying,

There’s not enough dust swirls to keep multiplying”

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Pa’s dusty head shook as he looked at the floor;

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“I tried to deny it, but coal is no more

The miners look sad at the end of the day,

Because the job that they do has been taken away"

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"It’s not anyone’s fault, but the world spins around,

And sometimes that means that new jobs must be found”

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You see nobody wanted the coal anymore

(They were making clean energy, somewhere offshore)

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The coal was once used to keep people warm

Now there’s new kinds of heating to weather a storm

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If the miners kept digging and chipping away

One day we’d run out and the world would decay

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Because to keep the earth safe, coal belongs in the ground

We can use things like wind farms to power our towns

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Wind farms create a sustainable source

Of energy and heating and lighting of course

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But that doesn’t mean we should forget the poor Crumlins

They want to be remembered, but not the world crumbling!

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So across the old road the miners all hid,

Behind their net curtains, with rooms dimly lit

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They weren’t scared of the mine, but it made them feel sad

(They remembered the good times before it went bad)

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Sometimes old miners peek out of their windows,

And think they see movement, down there in the shadows,

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But the wives of the men who remember the mine

shout;

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“Get out of that Window! It’s not worth the time!

There’s no point in dwelling on the past” the wives say

“How can we save this old Valley today?”

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The old miners could sense that the dust was still moving,

But was it their memory, or something still living?

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We know that dust is Ma & Pa Crumlin,

They’re down there discussing just what should be done;

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“As the last family here, we need to define,

how we can save the last Crumlin mine”.

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“Why?”

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Said Ma Crumlin,

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“What do you know?”

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And Pa shook his head and spoke ever so slow;

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“You see that new sign they’ve put over the door”

(The Crumlin kids nodded, they’d seen it before)

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“That sign up there says, that one week from today

They’ll demolish the mine - we’ll have nowhere to stay!”

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Now; “Demolishers” sound like quite a mean thing,

But just like old miners, they work as a team

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Their job is to flatten old buildings and mines

(The land where they’re built is worth money in time)

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And sometimes it’s true that new things need some space,

But sometimes it’s best to remember a place!

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“Now listen…” Ma said, as small Crumlins rolled in,

“We must work together, you and your kin”

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“We’re not daft” said Ma Crumlin;

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“We know that coal’s finished,

but what people don’t realise is what we accomplished

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We worked hard with the miners in shaping the land,

And we won’t be demolished, just out of hand.

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We’ll use our long limbs and our sparkly eyes,

To cast scary shadows and create a surprise”

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“Those demolishers don’t know about all us Crumlins,

They’ll run away fast, shaking and grumbling!

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We’re only one family, but when they arrive,

We’ll show them this mine is really alive!”

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They swirled in the dust and created a map

Where the Crumlins would stand in each crevice and gap

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So the light through the cracks would shine right up the wall,

And the Crumlins small shadows looked scarily tall!

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They practiced and practiced, testing out new positions

Stretched their arms and their legs into spiky transitions

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So they knew quite exactly, and completely precisely,

Where their plan would work best, and then ever so nicely,

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Ma told all the Crumlins to get a good sleep

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For tomorrow, she said;

“Those demolishers weep!”

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In the morning vans parked at the mouth of the mine,

Crunching the coal dust once settled by time

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The demolishers stood with their hammers and lights,

Creeping up slowly to a dark deep as night

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They pulled the old gate out of the way,

And tiptoed right up to the edge of decay

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The Crumlins could tell they were already afraid,

(Because unlike the Crumlins, they were not very brave)

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Demolishers don’t know the mines and their history

(And as the villagers watched through their curtains so twitchy)

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Holding torches like weapons they crept up to the entrance

But the Crumlins were ready, and poised with a vengeance!

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The Crumlins, they knew every inch of that mine,

And they knew they could save it, even from time

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They knew where to stand so their shadows were cast,

Tall and foreboding and terribly vast

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And although they were only two inches high

To the demolishing team, their arms reached the sky

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As the demolishers crept through the dark with their lights,

Ma told every Crumlin to stretch to full height

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The lights hit the cracks and their shadows grew long

From the floor to the ceiling - the Crumlins stood strong!

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The demolishers froze and went pale with pure fear,

They swished lights through the darkness to try and see clear

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But as they swished and they swooshed, the shadows looked taller,

And the dust on the floor swirled faster and faster

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The dust started knotting together like lace…

New Crumlins were forming - all over the place!

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In the light of their torches, the shadows they grew

The demolishing team didn’t know what to do

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Their faces grew paler and they huddled in close

Until one of them whispered "This mine’s full of ghosts!"

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They dropped all their torches and ran against time

Screaming and shouting, “You can keep this old mine!"

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The miners in houses, all cheered and they smiled

Threw open their curtains and wives hugged their child

 

They opened their doors and marched straight to the mine,

(And through that old door they once used all the time)

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They picked up the torches and shone them around

Over the cracks and the dark dusty ground

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The old walls now sparkled with hundreds of eyes

And familiar shadows were reaching the skies

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Because miners you see, are not scared of Crumlins

They’d always been there and their presence was humbling

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They looked at each other, filled with great pride

And thought, so what next, now we’ve gone back inside…

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One of them said, voice booming and loud;

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“It’s time that us miners made this village proud

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"We know coal is over, but this great old mine,

shouldn’t be lost to the ages of time

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“Let’s make this old place a mining museum.

The Crumlins live here and we’ll charge folks to see ‘em!

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They’ll share all our stories, and tell all their friends

The village will prosper, and be happy again!”

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They all shone their torches and looked to the walls,

To check Crumlins want a museum at all

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(The Crumlins you see, could not speak like the men,

so they needed to check they were happy again)

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The Crumlins relaxed and looked at each other…

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“A great plan!” they said, and then each Crumlin mother

Told every new Crumlin; "Blink your sparkly eyes,

Then the miners will know that their plan’s very wise!”

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So the Crumlins all blinked, over and over,

And each miner patted his friend on the shoulder

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The mine sparkled again after such a long time,

And the Crumlin’s plan worked - the Valley is fine!

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People visit the Valleys from miles around

To visit the Crumlins - and visit the town

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And that is important - the miners knew why

A reason as hard to explain as the sky

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Because it’s not just the Crumlins, working away,

To protect this one mine from all the decay

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A place can be found, for every old trade

As even after old memories fade

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The people that carefully shaped the whole land

Are all over the country and terribly grand

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And even when time (which can move at great pace)

Forgets what they’ve done or forgets their coal face

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Without things like Crumlins, who fight for the past,

We’ll forget how our future is wonderfully cast

 

So sometimes your teacher, your mum or your dad,

will look all nostalgic or a little bit sad

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But that’s not a bad thing or boring or mean,

It’s that they remember things not on a screen

 

But before we had internet, social and stuff,

People did work in the dark and the dust

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And that’s why you have all the things you have now

And one day your children will wonder just how…

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Because the things you have now will be old and forgotten,

And the ones who remember will be dust and all rotten

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But as long as you help things like Crumlins keep going

Whatever comes next won’t stop dusty winds blowing!

 

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