Wednesday 27 November 2024 7.30pm THERE’S NO NEED TO BOOK
During the1926 General Strike striking miners uncoupled a rail on the mainline Edinburgh to London railway at Cramlington and inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman.
As we approach the centenary of Britain’s only general strike, find out more about what led to this notorious incident, exactly what happened on the day, the sentences the perpetrators received and the campaigns of support for them.
Were the ‘Cramlington train wreckers’ terrorists or were they workers trying to defend their livelihoods, family and community against an economic onslaught (‘the carnival of reaction’) that actually took place after the General Strike ended?
It’s a topic that has resonance today in the light of recent environmental protests and race riots.
Our Speaker
Before become a full-time creative writer in 2002, Ed Waugh attended Darlington Journalist College (where he met his marra and long-term collaborator Trevor Wood) and became a freelance journalist. Even earlier – after graduating from Sunderland Polytechnic in 1980 – Ed was a political researcher during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership. His writing ‘proudly reflects his life-long campaigning work to transform society from one that exists for the benefit of the unaccountable wealthy – and privileged – few into a truly democratic one run by, and on behalf of, the many’.
Ed’s play ‘The Cramlington Train Wreckers’ will tour the north-east in November 2024.
Our Venue
This event will take place at St George’s United Reformed Church on Newton Road, High Heaton NE7 7HP. It is on the corner with Boundary Gardens, the same block as Heaton Stannington’s football ground, Grounsell Park.
There are excellent public transport links including the numbers 18, 38, 52 and 553, which stop right by the church.
There is car parking on the surrounding streets.
Booking
There’s no need to book. Just turn up on the night.
