New play puts family history on the stage
Cathy comes home to see train wreckers play. Tony Henderson reports.
For Cathy Bowles, it was a piece of her North East family history which made international headlines almost a century ago.
Now the Canada-based 64-year-old, is coming home to see the story played out on stage.
The accidental derailing of the Flying Scotsman at Cramlington was one of the major events of the 1926 General Strike.
It is the subject of the latest play by South Shields writer Ed Waugh and, titled The Cramlington Train Wreckers, will open a region-wide tour on November 7.
Catherine Bowles (nee Baker) is the paternal granddaughter of Willy Baker, one of the eight-strong band behind the derailment and the only man who was not a miner.
“The fact that she is travelling from Canada to see the play is just incredible,” said Ed, who made contact with Cathy after interviewing her cousin who lives in Nstle.
The incident on May 10, 1926 happened when striking miners uncoupled a rail on the mainline Edinburgh to London line.
The intent was to derail a blackleg coal train that the Northumberland miners felt was undermining the strike. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, it was a passenger train, the carriages of which were part of the Flying Scotsman service being pulled by locomotive No.2565 Merry Hampton.
Despite 281 passengers aboard the train, the volunteer driver had been warned of trouble ahead and slowed down, meaning when the engine and five carriages were derailed, no one was killed and there was only one minor injury.
“As we approach the centenary of Britain's only General Strike, the most notorious incident of that societal unrest in May 1926 happened when miners inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman Northumberland,” said Ed.
Eight men were sentenced for a total of 48 years imprisonment. They were eventually released early due to pressure from the trade unions, politicians and the judiciary itself, who saw the original sentences as too harsh.
Aged 28, Willy Baker was the second oldest of the imprisoned eight. Cathy’s father’s uncle, Tommy Roberts, was another of the ‘wreckers’ was also jailed
Tommy Roberts and Willy Baker were brothers in law. Cathy's grandmother's maiden name was Roberts and she was the sister of Tommy.
Willy Baker received four years' penal servitude but was released after two years, three months.
Cathy said: "Unfortunately, my grandfather died of a heart attack soon after being released on September 1, 1928, so his four young children, including my dad, never really got to know him well.
"We do know he wasn't a miner, though. I was told he worked in a glass factory,” said Cathy who emigrated to Canada over 40 years ago and will be returning to see the play with her husband.
"My cousin Christine told me about this play, and I felt I had to travel home to see it. In my youth I would visit my Nanna Baker, Aunty Cathy and Uncle Jimmy, Christine’s dad.
“I heard all the tremendous mining stories and about the derailment. It's my history, of which I am extremely proud."
Cathy will be attending the performance at the Westovian Theatre in South Shields on November 16.
The tour dates are: November 7, Cramlington Learning Village, 4pm and 7pm; November 8 The Glasshouse, Gateshead 8pm; November 9 Bishop Auckland Town Hall, 7.30pm; November 10, Queens Hall Hexham 2pm and 7.30pm; November 12 The Witham, Barnard Castle 7.30pm; November 13 Whitley Bay Playhouse 7.30pm; November 14 Alnwick Playhouse, 7.30pm; November 15 Gosforth Civic Theatre, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; November 16 Westovian Theatre South Shields 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Book tickets for all performances via the website www.cramlingtontrainwreckers.co.uk