Jack Wilkinson

Jack is the first Coquetdale Creative I interviewed, back in January, 2019. I am proud to share his story with you here.

One of the reasons we (my husband, John and I) moved to Rothbury was the immense amount of fantastic music that takes place here. On our first trip to the Open Mic at the Railway Hotel we were enthralled by Jack Wilkinson, easy to recognise with his distinctive waistcoat and 'Donovan' cap. We listened, thoroughly entertained, to the great guitar playing, singing and story-telling by this charismatic musician.

Jack was born in Glasgow in 1944 but moved to Wylam when he was 2. A defining aspect of his life was contracting polio, which caused a life-long disability. 'When I was first diagnosed, we were living in a 3 bedroomed house with my Gran and Granda, mum and dad, dad's 3 sisters and brother. No-one was allowed to leave the house because of the polio epidemic.' Later, Jack had operations on his leg which necessitated hospital stays of six years, off and on.

Polio left Jack with a weakened leg but a strong-minded and generous spirit. He told me 'Being disabled from childhood breeds a determination and an appreciation of love and life'. In later years Jack suffered from hearing loss, but this also does not deter him.

As a child Jack loved listening to his father, a popular entertainer, playing music and singing. Jack longed to play himself. however, he was not allowed to touch his father's guitar! Jack recalls the life-changing day his father came home with a gift. 'I was about 11. He came in with a sailor's kit bag and the neck of a guitar was peeking out. 'That's for you' he said. I was elated. It was an old wreck of an instrument, but I loved it'. Jack soon mastered the guitar and was then was also allowed to play his father's banjo ukulele.

Later, Jack taught himself to play the mandolin and ukulele. Working for 44 years at Metal Spinners, Jack started out working the machines, soon becoming a Charge Hand, and then Works Manager, and many highly responsible posts in between. An exciting aspect of this job was that Jack got to travel abroad regularly. And it was when he was working in Northern Ireland that he learned first hand about traditional Irish music, which he loves with a passion.

Following his time in the 50s playing in a variety of skiffle groups, Jack became more and more interested in folk music. I asked him to tell me which track meant a lot to him - he chose 'Blowing in the Wind' by Bob Dylan. 'I first heard this song some 56 years ago and it heralded my introduction to folk music. Initially a peace song, the words convey to me more about life and how we must keep trying to get where we want to be. I shared this song with Ben, my son, and we have performed it together. To me, it means that, no matter what we do, our lives blow in the wind. Hopefully bad things blow away and good things blow towards us (it doesn't always work that way).”

Jack has had great success as a folk singer/songwriter and performer. He formed The Northumbrians in 1968, a very successful band which appeared on Hughie Green's Opportunity Knocks, and regularly performed on the Tyne Tees show 'Walk Right In'. A high spot for Jack was when The Northumbrians performed at the Royal Festival Hall at an event hosted by Bob Monkhouse.

Jack and his wife decided to move to Netherton, in Coquetdale, in 2000. But great sadness followed this decision. Not long after they settled in the village, in October, Olwen suffered a stroke, and died the following December. Jack's neighbours had already taken him to their hearts, and everyone helped him at this tragic and difficult time. Jack had partially retired and mostly given up music at this point.

However, 'Music found me here' he tells me. ' I started folk music nights at the Village Hall, helped by Jennifer Crane'. Jack and Jennifer created the famous Netherton Folk Club. This quirky, joyous and popular monthly event was known about throughout Coquetdale. People would bring their own picnics and drinks, and many different musicians would turn up and a great time would be had by all. The Netherton Folk Club has now been disbanded as Jack has begun a new venture - The Cheviot Folk Club - which is a monthly event held at the Cross Keys Pub in Thropton. This is proving to be just as popular, and attracting such legendary performers as Rod Clements, who will be playing at the February gig. Throughout his life, Jack has always been thinking of those less fortunate than himself, and has organised and taken part in 100s of charity events raising many £1000s for a variety of different charities. It is this side of his character which won him an 'Unsung Hero' award in 2007 from Alnwick District Council. The Chair, Peter Dawson, said 'Jack Wilkinson is a talented musician and has used these talents to organise folk evenings, music workshops and to assist with school ceilidh groups. He also entertains and teaches music to the residents of Wilkinson Park, a care home for adults with learning difficulties'. Jack has also devoted time to working with the homeless in Newcastle. Of all the many creative folk in Coquetdale, Jack Wilkinson stands out as one of the most approachable, charismatic, talented and good-hearted of them all.

Since this interview, Jack has continued playing, entertaining, and helping people all over Coquetdale. He spends a good deal of time entertaining dementia groups. Jack tells me that he finds this very rewarding, and it is clear that the group members love his sessions. The Cheviot Folk Club now takes place at the Star in Harbottle.

One of the most poignant and important things he has done is to produce a booklet about his experience of having polio, and how it affected his life. Jack gives talks about this, and - even though it is a difficult subject - he tells the story with great wit, openess, and warmth. We have all learned a lot about the illness, because of Jack's generous sharing.

In November 2022, I talked with Jack in more detail about polio. This next article was first published in the Northumberland Gazette.

'Polio discovered in the UK'

'Thousands of children unprotected against Polio'

As these shocking headlines began to appear in the UK's newspapers earlier this year, Jack Wilkinson was horrified to discover that the disease which blighted his life, and which he thought had been eradicated, might be making a deadly return to our modern society.

Jack resolved to relate to as many people as possible about his life experience. He has written a most enlightening, entertaining, and moving talk entitled: “Polio, My Life, And Me”. The talk is engaging and enjoyable, even though it relates such a difficult time.

'A word most of us would be horrified to use now, but which was publicly used in those bygone days to describe this terrible disease, was THE CRIPPLER. Almost all victims of polio became known as cripples'.

Born in 1944, Jack was less than 2 years old when he and 2 other children were found to have contracted polio. They were immediately taken to Walkergate Isolation Hospital where they stayed for eight weeks. I am not looking for sympathy when I relate these hardships, it is simply to highlight the difficulties that polio victims had to endure in order to live a relatively normal life. There were no benefits or organisations to provide for you, it was down solely to your family. And of course, there was the bullying and name-calling that came automatically, in those days, with being disabled.

Polio affected the way Jack's leg grew. His left leg grew normally, but his right leg did not keep up the growth and ended up about 6 inches shorter. Jack points out that: this was happening to thousands of children around the world and surgery was being experimented with to try to stretch the affected limbs.

What lay ahead for Jack does seem to us today, very difficult indeed. “I had a plaster cast, known as 'The Spiker', to keep me immobilised”. Poor Jack spent Christmas 1953 in hospital. Although the children received Red Cross Parcels, it did not make up for not being able to see siblings or friends for such a long time.

Jack was fitted with a full length, rigid, calliper. This prevented him from bending his knee, so sitting was very awkward and uncomfortable.

This was not the end of the story. Jack had to return to hospital for many other painful periods of time.

You can hear more about what happened next at one of his illustrated talks. Jack's talk on Polio, My Life, And Me is being very well received. Karen Merton from the Royal Voluntary Service commends it: “This is a timely talk which our members found both fascinating and entertaining”.

If you would like to book Jack (free) Please contact him via [email protected]