Swan Hunter's Robot Welder by Jack Davitt

This is the hilarious story of what might have happened if the bosses at the Swan Hunter shipyard had decided to bring in a robo-welder!
Born in 1924, Jack Davitt worked as a welder in the Swan Hunter's Wallsend Shipyard. He became known as the poet of the Tyneside shipyards and he wrote under the pen-name of 'Ripyard Cuddling'.
Fans of Jack's poetry gave several readings during the run of the 'Peter Burns: The Vanished World of The Tyne Shipyards' exhibition which was held at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre in 2019. The exhibition featured the paintings and drawings of shipyard painter, Peter Burns, who worked as a plater at Swan Hunter's. Peter was a friend of Jack's and painted his portrait numerous times.
Before his death in 2014, Jack was recorded reading some of his poems and this track comes from a cassette tape in the possession of his family.
The illustrations in this presentation are all the work of Peter Patrick Burns.