CRAMLINGTON TRAIN WRECKERS

HADAWAY HARRY – in conversation with actor Jamie Brown

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Jamie Brown.

The incredible true story of Harry Clasper is set to tour the North East in February. The one man play ‘Hadaway Harry’ stars Jamie Brown who won a NE Culture Awards Performing Artist of the year.

Harry Clasper was born in 1812 in Dunston, Gateshead, at two year old he moved to Jarrow where he fell in love with the water watching ships coming up the Tyne. Education was limited for Harry, he couldn’t read or write and signed his marriage certificate with a cross. He started work at Jarrow Pit but unfortunately that didn’t work out so his next stop was an apprenticeship at Browns Boatyard.

‘That’s where he got clued up about boats. Harry revolutionized boat racing and boat design, innovations that became part of boat racing then are still employed in boat building today’ explained Jamie.

‘By shaving the boat they made a gun barrel shape instead of a square bottom and pointed the front of the boat. That increased the speed rather than drag through the water, and they made a scooped shape oar’.

‘It was like the time during the 2012 London Olympics when cycling became really popular, they had lightweight helmets, handlebars were shaped to create more speed – huge innovations just like Harry Clasper done for boating in the 1800s’.

‘Rowing was the main sport then, people would sit on the bank of the river and watch the race. Bets would be placed and there would be sponsors – even in those days. There would be stories of men employed to drill holes in the boats of opponents or tempt the oarsmen with alcohol the night before. There was even a case of someone’s food being poisoned. One of the first cases of boat tampering was with the part of the boat called the scull. The term skulduggery comes from that’.

‘The writer Ed Waugh has a desire to shine a light on people or events that have gone under the radar. We’ve done plays about North East musicians and singers Ned Corvan, Joe Wilson and Wor Bella about a ladies football team plus at the end of last year was The Cramlington Train Wreckers’.

‘These extraordinary stories about the working class, are told so they go unforgotten. There is a thirst for these stories, people responded well to them with standing ovations and sold out shows’.

pic. by Local Historian, Steve Ellwood

The Hadaway Harry shows in 2015 and 2017 eventually got Harry Clasper some recognition as a blue plaque was fixed onto the base of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. There is also a pub called the Harry Clasper in Whickham, Gateshead.

‘He came from a big family – he was one of 14 and had 12 children himself. His ancestors are still around today, they’ve been to the shows and are very proud of his achievements’.

‘But his story wasn’t straight forward, it’s not looking back with rose tinted spectacles as he suffered personal tragedy and professional disappointments, there was plenty of hardship and personal dilemma’.

Later in life Harry became a publican in Newcastle but sadly died in 1870.

‘Over 120,000 people lined the streets for his funeral the procession was only a few miles but took over 12 hours. His coffin was put on a boat and sailed down the Tyne to Whickham where he was buried’.

The North East has stories of talented people achieving great things – we talked about the footballer Paul Gascoigne, coincidentally also born in Dunston where Harry came from.

‘Before Association football the sport of the people was rowing and Harry Clasper has been likened to the David Beckham of the day. I think, as many people do, he should have a statue next to the river Tyne. His achievements were fantastic. Do you know he won the world championship 8 times in 12 years’.

‘It’s been a privilege telling his story, but sadly this will be my last time on stage doing the Hadaway Harry show. I’ve loved doing the show but in the second half of the play it is hard rowing and narrating the story as a one man show plus I’m 40 in February so it can be a bit exhausting’.

‘So, this is me hanging up my oars but the play will go on and maybe a younger actor will take on the role. This is why on the tour schedule after about three nights we have a day or two off where there is time for rest and recovery and then for the next show I’m ready to be able to give 100%’.

For information about tour dates and venues contact the official website >>>

http://www.hadawayharry.com

Thanks to Von Fox Promotions for the pix.

Alikivi   January 2025

WISECRACK with playwright & theatre producer Ed Waugh

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Working in media and entertainment can be a risky business and after Covid it only increased. Picking up a couple of jobs but then nothing for a while has been a regular pattern for me these past few years. It’s a struggle but I wouldn’t change it for the world, I’ve loved every minute of it since my first video commission in January 1997.

I remember the day well. I was in a community centre in Hetton le Hole, Durham talking to a group of former miners who were interested in making a video when someone burst into the room with tears in her eyes “You never guess what’s happened?” We all turned around thinking the pipes have burst, there’s been an accident, someone’s died, what’s happened? “Kevin Keegans left Newcastle United”!

South Shields theatre producer Ed Waugh

I was interested how others working in the creative industry have managed so I got in touch with South Shields playwright and theatre producer Ed Waugh. Ed is part of the North East based Wisecrack team who use theatre to document working class history. I asked him about his past year.

‘Where did 2024 go? The whole year passed like a whirlwind. We’d come off a busy 2023 but from January 1 we were focused on Wor Bella, which was transferring to the wonderful Newcastle Theatre Royal in April. If that wasn’t enough to organise, we did a pre-show run in London to get the production on its feet’. 

‘Wor Bella is about North East women footballers in WW1 and the interest was massive. We had full pages in The Guardian and Daily Telegraph as well as tremendous coverage in other national publications. The upshot was London sold out’.

‘Coming home to the Theatre Royal was magnificent – three sold-out houses and just as in London standing ovations after every performance. It was my fifth show at the most prestigious venue in the region, a record for a local writer, so you can imagine how it swelled this Geordie’s heart with pride’.

(Link to interview with actress Catherine Dryden who starred in ‘Wor Bella’).

WOR BELLA HITS LONDON – the incredible story of heroic North East women footballers during WW1. | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

‘I’m just so honoured to be working with a top-class, professional and dedicated Wisecrack Productions team. We have director and actor Russell Floyd and other brilliant actors, technicians and hugely important people behind the scenes who allow us to put excellent stories on stage. It’s a true team effort’.

‘We’ve now sold around 800 Wor Bella scripts, so that’s canny. Many more thousands of people now know the story of these selfless working class women who saved the WW1 war effort’.

‘My book Geordie Plays Volume 1 has also almost sold out – the last few remaining first editions at Newcastle City Library are now officially collectors’ items’.

‘2024 ended with a triumphant tour of our play The Cramlington Train Wreckers. It’s about the General Strike of 1926 and how miners in Northumberland inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman during the nine-day strike before it was sold out by the TUC and Labour Party leaders. Word of mouth – the only marketing that really matters – was phenomenal and every venue sold out’.  

‘We’re looking to get The Cramlington Train Wreckers out again in May 2026 to mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike – the biggest rupture in British society since the civil war in the 1640s’.

‘In February 2025, Hadaway Harry – produced by and starring Jamie Brown – is touring the region. Hadaway Harry is about champion Tyneside rower Harry Clasper who was a forgotten Geordie legend’.

‘When he died in 1870, 130,00 lined his funeral procession in Newcastle. It will be the play’s 10th anniversary. I can’t believe a decade has gone by!’ 

‘Then in June, Carrying David will play Newcastle Theatre Royal. My sixth show there. Carrying David is about Glenn McCrory’s rise to becoming the first North East world boxing champion. It is being produced by and stars Micky Cochrane. Don’t miss these plays, you’ll be spellbound!

(It’s worth checking out both ‘Hadaway Harry’ and ‘Carrying David’ reviews on Google).

Actress & Theatre producer Leah Bell

Dirty Dusting, of course, continues to tour nationally – and internationally – and that play is touring venues in the UK in October under the guidance of the inimitable Leah Bell’.

(Link to interview with actress & theatre producer Leah Bell from July 2021)

TAKE A BOW – writer, actress & theatre producer, Leah Bell | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

‘The old warhorse Waiting For Gateaux – written, like Dirty Dusting with Trevor Wood – will be performed in New Zealand this year. Having these four plays produced in 2025 by other people means I can take the year out to write. I’m working on a few new ideas that will hopefully see the light of day in 2026 and beyond’.

ITV news reader Ian Payne & former BBC journalist & presenter Jeff Brown

‘I’ll also be doing my talks throughout the region, which amounted to around 40 last year, and I’m producing a series of talks with Ian Payne and Jeff Brown … “the two lads off the telly”. They are happening in April and May’.

‘We’ve done four of these ‘Evenings with’ before, and they sell out quickly. The lads are always good crack and the event is great fun. Loads of other stuff but I was only allowed 500 words for this post and I’ve used up over 600 already! Have a great 2025’.

For some it may be challenging times but Wisecrack continue rolling on. For further information, tour dates & video contact the official website >>>

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Alikivi   January 2025