A play about North East miners imprisoned for accidently derailing the Flying Scotsman during the 1926 General Strike, was staged in The Waterfront Hall in Belfast and The Playhouse in Derry. Both venues saw enthusiastic audiences and standing ovations.
The Cramlington Train Wreckers was written by North East playwright Ed Waugh who has spent more than 20 years writing plays about working-class life (Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry, Carrying David).
“It’s a story about working-class unity. Whether you’re from north east England, Belfast or Derry, they’re stories about solidarity told with a different accent.” said Ed.
Mr Waugh worked closely with Northern Ireland’s trade union movement to help stage the production. They received backing from several trade unions, including NIPSA, Unite, Unison, the Fire Brigades Union and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Ed praised working with NIPSA…
“I’ve been incredibly proud to work alongside NIPSA. Their commitment to bringing people together reflects exactly what this play is about. It shows that working people are united by their shared struggles.”
“That message of working people being united has certainly connected with audiences in Northern Ireland.”
A hit play about North East miners imprisoned for derailing the Flying Scotsman during the 1926 General Strike is transferring to Northern Ireland before it plays the prestigious Newcastle Theatre Royal.
Playwright Ed Waugh (Carrying David, Wor Bella) was invited to talk about the play at two Irish venues last week.
Firstly, how did you get there Ed?
‘I flew! It only takes 40 minutes from Newcastle to Belfast International Airport. My Metro journey from Newcastle Airport to South Shields took much longer!’
‘I spent a couple of nights in Derry but while in Belfast, and Derry, there was lots of talk about the race riots. Theatre shows were cancelled and the bars weren’t up to their usual capacity. I was told people are reticent about coming out of their homes to socialise publicly at the moment.’
pic.PlaywrightEd Waugh in The Waterfront Hall, Belfast.
How did the Ireland connection come about?
‘I was approached by Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) who have a membership of 47,000 and are the biggest Northern Ireland-based trade union.
They were instrumental in getting additional trade union support from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ITUC), Unite, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and Unison. The latter have 50,000 members in Northern Ireland and are based across the UK.’
Along with the talks Ed was interviewed by BBC Radio Ulster in Belfast and BBC Radio Foyle in Derry.
‘I was amazed by the BBC presenters who interviewed me in Belfast (BBC Ulster) and Derry (BBC Foyle). They had obviously done their homework and their preparation was brilliant, they were good interviews. I was impressed.’
‘I was able to get the point across about the need for workers’ unity and the importance of trade unions in this, to cut across racial, religious and gender bigotry.’
‘These disgusting prejudices are whipped up by the representatives of the wealthiest 1 per cent to detract from the growing inequalities in society. It’s the traditional ‘divide and rule’ tactic to scapegoat minorities rather than the real culprits.’
pic. Playwright Ed Waugh outside Derry Playhouse.
How did you find Belfast and Derry?
‘Both Belfast and Derry are highly political cities. There are political murals everywhere and every family was affected by the troubles.’
‘Despite these historical injustices, Belfast is a brilliant place. I’ve been a number of times and it reminds me of Newcastle. People are very friendly and the place has a buzz.’
‘Mind you, Derry blew me away. What a fantastic place! I paid tribute to the Undertones mural before heading to the BBC to be interviewed but en route people would just say “hello” and smile. it was lovely.’
‘It was announced before the BBC Radio Foyle (Derry) interview that I was speaking and there to meet me at the station to say hello was a chap from Wallsend. He’d emigrated in 1973 but still had his Geordie accent.’
Would you call the visit successful Ed?
‘When I got the taxi home in the evening the taxi driver asked me what I was doing in Derry and when I told him he said he’d be at the front of the queue if there was another general strike.’
The Cramlington Train Wreckers is playing Derry Playhouse on July 8 and Waterford Hall, Belfast, on July 9, before transferring to Newcastle Theatre Royal on July 12. The two shows at Newcastle will be at 3pm and 7.30pm. There is limited ticket availability for both shows.
How many books have you published and when was the first?
Four so far Gary. My first book, ‘The Five Stone Steps’, a tale of a Policeman’s life in 1920s South Shields, came out in 2014 and was followed by ‘Blitz PAMS’ (2016) a tale of the Blitz on Shields, then ‘A Chill Wind off the Tyne’ (2018).
My last book, ‘He Wears a Blue Bonnet’ (about Scottish survivors of the Dunbar death march who were sold as indentured servants to work in the salt pans of Shields) – was published in 2022.
What is the new book about?
‘The Pit Boy’ is true story of the early life of my Granda’, Teddy, who was brought up in Wilson Street High Shields in the 1900s. His early days were marked by poverty. His Da’, a rivetter/boiler maker who had moved to Tyneside from Loughborough, died of rheumatics in 1902. Teddy’s Mam, Lizzi, took to the drink, and the family ended up in the Workhouse.
Back on the cobbled streets of Shields, Lizzie took up fish hawking, but when the drink took over, she abandoned Teddy and his brother Alf on a doorstep in Brunswick Street. She was sent down for two months for child cruelty and neglect.
Teddy started as a trapper lad at St Hilda colliery. He worked hard down the pit, went to night school, and when War broke out in 1914, he had become the youngest deputy in the Durham coalfield.
Why do you focus on South Shields?
After my Granda’ died in 1955 when I was six, my Nan, Gertie started coming for tea four times a week. ‘Tea’ went from half past two until six o’clock. She sat in an old wicker chair in the corner, drank tea and never stopped talking in her broad Geordie accent.
Her tales of old Sheelz still ring in my ears – of Dick Borke (Burke) the one-legged bookie, of when they ‘bornt Kredga in the streets’, (effigies of Kruger were hung from lampposts and burnt during the celebrations of the relief of Mafeking.) Although I left Shields in my early twenties, I love the town and the old memories kindled by my Nan.
When writing, is that when you are happiest?
I have always suffered with my nerves and had a breakdown in my second year at Oxford. I was advised to take a year off and went home. After a couple of weeks, me Mam told me that she didn’t want me moping round the house and if I was going to stay then I’d have to get a job and pay keep.
I tripped off down to the old Labour Exchange in Wawn Street and joined the long queues of men drawing their dole. There was only one job going in the whole of Shields – at Wrights Biscuits. I took it and learned more about life there than I ever had at Oxford.
I went back to my studies, and qualified as a Solicitor. I had a second nervous breakdown in my mid forties and have never fully recovered. I started writing as a form of occupational therapy and have kept it up. I am happy sitting at the keyboard researching my stories and then writing them.
It is fascinating to learn how folk lived a hundred years or so ago and then write about it. It’s not all I do but it’s now a settled part of my life.
As well as novels do you write short stories?
My first thought was to answer no – but then I reflected on how I started ‘The Five Stone Steps’. I had been intending to write a whodunit set in 1920s South Shields.
A very good friend of mine, Tommy Gordon, had taught me ragtime piano and I knew that his Da’, also Tom, but only ever called Jock, had been a Station Sergeant in the Shields police. I asked him about policing in the twenties and he went to his bookshelves and produced a dusty, dog-eared manuscript of his Da’s memoirs.
As I read these tales of Old South Shields, very much like those my Nan had remembered, I could almost hear Jock Gordon’s whisky voice as he sat down at a table by the fire to set his memories to paper.
I thought that one particular tale about publicans in old Shields putting out a little jug of whisky for the Bobbies on night shift might make a good story. My first book is in fact a collection of short stories but much like a ‘soap’ on telly all the tales connect-up.
What are your hopes for this book?
All my books are self-published with help from Uk Book Publishing in Whitley Bay, a great team. With the stranglehold Amazon has on the book trade it is nigh impossible for a self-publisher to make any money and the few independent bookshops that are left are reluctant to stock self-published books.
The only place in South Shields where my books can be bought is the Shop at The Word, so I rely on social media and word of mouth for my books to get known.
My hope for ‘The Pit Boy’is that a Tale of Old Shields will capture the imagination of folk and remind everyone of what a vibrant industrial town Shields was in the 1900s – that despite the poverty and hardship, folk stuck together, got on with life, and made the most of things.
I’m often accused of living in the past but we should all remember our forebears and their struggles – without them we wouldn’t be here!
Alikivi June 2026
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North East playwright Arthur Mackenzie has had a great career as a writer penning many episodes of TV classics such as ‘Casualty’ and ‘The Bill’. In 2024 he wrote a book of monologues for female actors to raise money for a dementia charity but asked the publisher to omit his name from the cover as he wished to remain anonymous.
All proceeds from the book were donated to ‘Dementia Matters.’ Arthur’s wife has dementia which is what inspired him to write the book ‘From Dialogue To Monologue.’
With the help of the North East Acting & Writing Hub, this Friday 5th June from 7pm five of those scripted pieces are being performed in Newcastle at The Tyneside Irish Centre to raise money for Age UK North Tyneside which helps dementia patients in the region.
Arthur Mackenzie explained “I’m delighted that Steve Wraith from the ‘North East Acting and Writing Hub’ in Gateshead offered to promote a showcase of my monologues. There may be laughter and tears but I hope people take something from the evening.”
Photo left to right Steve Wraith, Libby Walker, Sharon Percy, Arthur Mackenzie, Jayne Mackenzie, Alison Stanley and Dawn Wilkinson.
Steve said “I’ve known Arthur for over 38 years now. I did my first play for him aged 16 playing the part of the Lord Mayor in ‘Exclusive’ at The Peoples Theatre. In 2014 I debuted a play about speed dating for him at South Shields Customs House called ‘GSOH Would Like To Meet’. So, I was only too pleased to help Arthur with this project.”
Steve added “Two year ago I published the monologues for him anonymously at his request to raise money for ‘Dementia Matters.’ Now Arthur has agreed to put his name to the project and myself, Neil Jackson and Catarina De Cezzane at the North East Acting and Writing Hub in Gateshead have pulled the project together.”
“We have a very talented group of Actors including SharonPercy, Libby Walker, Alison Stanley, Jayne Mackenzie and Dawn Wilkinsonwho have kindly given up their time for free which means we shall raise some much needed funds for Dementia Patients.”
All proceeds from the evening will go towards Age UK North Tyneside. Tickets are £5 on the door.
Photo LtoR Steve Wraith, Martin Hylton (CEO Gateway Studio), Catarina De Cezanne and Neil Jackson
A new initiative for actors and writers is set to launch in Gateway Studio on Gateshead High Street this summer. The Hub is designed to give local playwrights the opportunity to hear their work performed to a live audience, and giving actors a professional stage to ply their craft.
The team behind the new initiative are award-winning Portuguese screenwriter and film maker Catarina De Cezanne, producer and filmmaker Neil Jackson plus Steve Wraith, Actor and Writer who explained…
There is a wealth of creative talent in the North East but a lack of opportunities for those creatives to express themselves. We approached Gateshead Council with our project and they helped us get the ball rolling.
It is so important for writers to hear their script read and performed by actors. If gives them a chance to hear audience reaction, what they like, what they don’t like, what makes them laugh or cry and what does and doesn’t work.
Have any dates been planned for shows?
We have 5 dates filled already. We are launching with a comedy that I have written called ‘The End Of Our World’ which will be performed by Rod Glenn and Kathryn Sabourn on July 29th at 6pm. This will be our official launch night which will also see us officially launch our film company ANBOC Films Ltd.
Is it free to enter and do the creatives get paid?
It is free and people can enter all year round. All script writers selected and actors cast will all be paid a fee for their work and performance.
Has this initiative been done in Gateshead before?
There have been initiatives of this type across the region but this is a first for Gateshead town centre.
What are your hopes for the project?
We hope to discover new talent across the region. We certainly feel that there is a gap in the creative world for this type of scheme. My experience of theatre locally as a professional actor is that it is very much a closed shop to the majority and it is difficult to get a break. We will be looking to break new talent each month and giving them a chance to gain some experience. Long term we would love to expand this across the borough of Gateshead.
The scheme has secured backing from Gateshead Council, with funding provided through the North East Combined Authority (NECA). For more information contact >>>
Alison Stanley, Katie Potts, Crissy Rock & Leah Bell.
A UK tour is planned for ‘Tits Up.’ The play is based on the real life story of women with breast cancer. It’s written by Alison Stanley and Leah Bell who also star in the show along with Crissy Rock and Katie Potts.
The show played at a sold out North East venue this year. You must be pleased with this Alison?
I’m really pleased with how everything is going. The audiences have been great and the reviews have been amazing. I think the subject matter (breast cancer) is relatable to so many people, in fact I really don’t know many people whose lives haven’t been touched by cancer in some way.
I think this play is really important in raising awareness, it looks at the lives of very different women. It looks at women who have caring responsibilities as well as dealing with their diagnosis. This puts an entirely different slant on dealing with cancer when you have to care for others as well.
We also wanted to look at breast cancer in very young women. Most people think breast cancer is an older person’s disease but the fact is young women can get this too. We hope that this play encourages young women to check themselves.
Are you looking forward to the tour and taking the show to new venues?
I’m really looking forward to touring. This tour goes all over the UK in October to coincide with breast cancer awareness month. I’m looking forward to new theatres and new audiences also playing some old favourites. There are some really beautiful theatres in the UK.
We’re also playing in the North East at Alnwick Playhouse, South Shields Customs House and Live Theatre in Newcastle, so it’s great to be showing out on home turf.
What type of audiences do you think the show will attract?
Cancer affects everyone so we have people who have their own cancer journeys, their families, health professionals and theatre goers who want to be entertained by a great story. All very different audiences of all types of people. The play is raw, honest, heartfelt and at times hilarious.
‘Tits Up’ starring Crissy Rock, Katie Potts, Leah Bell & Alison Stanley is playing across the UK in October 2026.
Playwright, lyricist and poet Tom Kelly who now lives further up the Tyne river at Blaydon, has released a new collection of poems published by Northumberland based Red Squirrel Press.
‘My collection, prior to ‘These Are My Bounds’ was ‘Walking My Streets’ (interview on site July 2024) published in 2024 and from that point I was building up work for my next collection’ said Tom.
‘I prefer to have new work published in magazines and the majority of poems in a new collection have been published. It allows me to see them more objectively.’
‘Once I’ve had a number of poems published, I begin to select which ones may work in the together. Next is the business of the running order. I found with, ‘These Are My Bounds’ they worked best by moving from past to present. I open the collection with a poem using my grandmother, Maggie Henderson, who died in Jarrow in 1969.’
Tom has had fourteen books published by Red Squirrel Press, the first was ‘The Wrong Jarrow’ from Smokestack Books.
‘That was in 2007 and is now out-of-print. Before these collections I had a number of pamphlets published by a variety of small publishers.’
Tom adds ‘My first pamphlet was the ‘Gibbeting of Wm. Jobling,’ published by the Bede Gallery, Jarrow in 1972.The publication was made up of poetry, prose, contemporary documents and illustrated by Vincent Rea.’
What are your hopes for this new collection?
‘I would, like most poets, to find readers who warm to my work with positive reviews and good sales to have my publisher Sheila Wakefield of Red Squirrel Press publish my next collection.’
Quotes and reviews from previous collections.
‘Another consummate, heart-warming collection from the talented Tom Kelly’.
Alan Morrison, in Morning Star.
‘He writes in a simple style, sometimes in the dialect of his native north-east. What he writes about should never be forgotten, though the rich and the powerful do their best to expunge it from collective memory.’Review of ‘No Love Rations’, short story collection.MQB
‘Tom Kelly writes poems that are straightforward and about the people and the places he’s known all his life. The North-East is his “small patch” and its history and traditions loom large in just about everything he writes. If the term “regional writer” means anything it certainly applies to a writer like Kelly. You can see and smell and hear both the past and the present as you read the short, jabbing lines with their penny-plain words.’The Penniless Press
‘These Are My Bounds’ available from Red Squirrel Press.
After a sold out stage tour in 2024 Cramlington Train Wreckers is back. The inspiring story of working class solidarity will be staged at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Sunday 12th July 2026to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the national strike in 1926.
The strike was the biggest rupture in society since the English civil war. Miners were asked to take a pay cut to ‘improve productivity’ – really just to maintain the profits of the bosses. North East actor Micky Cochrane played one of the main roles on the tour and is revisiting the play at Theatre Royal.
“The audiences were really good in ‘24. Lots of bums on seats and a great response. A lot of people come with high expectations for Ed’s plays and love what he does.”
Written by Ed Waugh (Wor Bella, Carrying David, Hadaway Harry) the story of the striking miners who accidently derailed the famous Flying Scotsman train in Northumberland is told by former actor and director Russell Floyd (The Bill, Eastenders), and after a very successful Carrying David and Billy Elliott the musical, the afore mentioned Micky Cochrane.
“I had worked with Russell on Carrying David and The Great Joe Wilson. I know how he works and what he brings out of actors. We work really well together.“
“I also won the North-East Culture Awards Performing Artist of the Year. It was a great reward for the fantastic plays and big roles I played last year” said Micky.
Also starring is Alex Tahnee who was in Romeo & Juliet and Alice in Wonderland “I knew Alex. She was great. The play has lots of information so we had to be on it. We had to help each other out”
“I had heard of the Cramlington Train Wreckers but I didn’t know the full story and main players so it was another chance to learn more about the history of the area.” explained Micky.
Tickets for Cramlington Train Wreckers at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Sunday 12th July 2026 available from >>>
As requested, readers of this site have contributed stories featuring supernatural phenomena. Researcher & Historian, and regular contributor to the site Dan Green, got in touch to pass on an interesting story he came across.
Report in The Shields Gazette 2013.
A visit to South Shields by three unexplained lights in the sky in October 1967 seemed to be very convincing as it was witnessed and recorded by policemen. But what occurred the previous year might be an even better UFO episode.
It began when a Shields resident agreed to tell her story to local newspaper The Shields Gazette in 2013 on the proviso that her identity was kept anonymous.
It was a cold night in late autumn, a black starless sky between 10-10.30pm when she and half a dozen of her girlfriends, all teens, were walking home from Harton village past Harton cemetery when they noticed a huge circular ‘flying saucer’ hovering approximately 20’ above the ground, coloured lights pulsated underneath with a humming noise.
It suddenly shot up into the air to a height of about 60-70’ staying stationary for a while then swooping down over the cemetery. Three times it repeated this climbing and ascending motion until it finally shot up into the sky disappearing in an instant.
The shaken girls stood there motionless and speechless and never said a word as they continued home. Little did they know that it appears that on the same night the unidentified aerial phenomena was also seen and witnessed by a Mr Alton, then aged 20, and his wife.
The object was first spotted as they were walking to their home near the old Westoe Colliery. It wandered slowly around the sky towards Tyne Dock where the following year the three lights above the flats were witnessed.
Disappearing from their view it was next seen 10 minutes later suddenly flying almost directly over Mr Alton. They could hear a soft humming sound as the black circular shaped craft blocked out the stars. A circular white light was centrally located on the underbelly of the craft, around the circumference was an aurora of soft, colourful light. It then flew off towards South Shields Town Hall nearby.
Mr Alton estimated it to be travelling at about 15mph and was at least 40’ diameter. They watched for about two minutes as it skimmed above the Westoe Road rooftops.
I recently contacted Mr Alton now 79 and living in Whitburn, to see if he was still clear with his story and indeed he is – there is no doubt in my mind that he is telling the absolute truth and in accurate detail.
Was this the same UFO witnessed on the same night as seen by the girls in Harton? Two remarkable close encounters begging the question, why was South Shields being visited by UFO’s during 1966 and 1967?
More revelations of supernatural phenomena will feature on this site. If you want to share your experience don’t hesitate to get in touch.
As requested, readers of this site have contributed stories featuring supernatural phenomena. 60 year old Jeff Anderson from Washington, County Durham, talked of his experiences.
The paranormal equates to something or some activity that is unknown now but is likely to be known and possibly understood in the future. So, a good example of paranormal activity would include ghost sightings and other spiritual activity of that nature.
It’s the stuff of sixth sense, which we are all aware of in situations when somebody is staring at us from behind, we look around and sure enough someone is. And vice-versa when we stare at someone suddenly they become aware of our stare.
I have over the last few years been equally fortunate and unfortunate to have been exposed to very real paranormal activity.
It was the very height of the Covid-19 pandemic I had been to Lidl one Saturday morning, nothing unusual there. Bonnie my German Shepherd was eagerly awaiting my return to the car. No sooner had I done so when quite inexplicably the car radio started playing and this despite being most definitely being switched off. I had the presence of mind to video the occurrence for future reference.
It sounded like Metallica playing but I wasn’t sure of the song. It turned out to be Creeping Death. I learned later it’s a song about the Biblical pass over featuring the Angel of Death. Creepy right?
On my weekly visit to my elderly parents house I explained to them the car radio occurrence and showed them the video I made that day. I felt someone somewhere was trying to communicate something.
In an instant a powerful gust of wind blew in through the upstairs front bedroom window, it came down the stairs twisting and turning and blew into the living room with such force that it actually blasted open the living room doors. It then turned back on itself and blew out of a small living room window. I mentioned it to my parents but they didn’t want to discuss it.
Unfortunately, my mother suffered a stroke a few year later. One afternoon I visited her in hospital with my Auntie. My mother occupied a room with three other stroke patients. There were just the six of us in the room on this occasion with no medical staff in attendance.
Of the four stroke patients three were asleep including my mam. The other patient was awake lying on her back, staring at the ceiling and occasionally crying out for her mother every few minutes or so, even though she was in her 70s herself. She was unaware of anything going on around her due to a possible dementia diagnosis.
The next thing it started raining mixed with hail and with such force and intensity I thought the window nearest to her might be blown in. After a short while things settled down.
However, the woman in the bed nearest the window was like someone possessed, she no longer cried out for her mother and was now fully aware. She turned her head and looked directly at me in the eye, diverting her gaze away from the ceiling. She even attempted to get out of bed at one point and come over to me. It was then I decided it was a goodtime to leave.
Sadly, my mother died a few months later. Two nights before her funeral I had left my bedroom window open only to be awoken at 3am by a strong gust of wind, so powerful it took every ounce of my physical strength to slam the window shut. Before I managed to close it the wind blasted me directly in the face, at which point an image of mother’s face unexpectedly appeared in my mind’s eye.
More revelations of supernatural phenomena will feature on this site. If you want to share your experience don’t hesitate to get in touch.
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 