Amazing 100-year-old piece of nostalgia in North East discovered and it's being hailed as 'memorabilia gold'
An incredible piece of North East nostalgia has been collected by a team which is bringing a hit play to the region.
The piece of ‘memorabilia gold’ is a banner which was created by members of Shankhouse Women’s Section of Cramlington Labour Party in 1926.
It will now take pride of place among an impressive array of armbands, plaques, medals and other much-sought artefacts collected by the team behind the hit play The Cramlington Train Wreckers.
The homemade banner is 40 inches square and calls for “victory” on its front.
The message on the back of it is a rallying call for the workers of the world to unite. The standard dates from the 1926 General Strike and a notorious incident when eight Cramlington Miners were sentenced to 48 years’ imprisonment for the inadvertent derailment of a train on the mainline, where Cramlington Learning Village is now.
Jane Harker of Wisecrack Productions, producers of The Cramlington Train Wreckers, Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry and Carrying David, explained: “The incident happened on May 10, 1926, day seven of the strike.
“The miners uncoupled a rail, intending to hold up a train rumoured to be carrying blackleg coal. Unfortunately, a passenger train, the Flying Scotsman, came along and was inadvertently derailed with 281 people on board.
“No-one died in the incident and the only injury was minor, to a man's foot. The eight Northumberland miners served their time in Maidstone, Kent - 330 miles away from their families.
“But due to pressure from the labour and trade union movement, the eight Cramlington lads only served half of their harsh sentences, returning home as heroes.”
“The Cramlington Labour Party women played a tremendous role in raising money to help pay for the families to visit their loved ones in Maidstone prison where visitors were allowed a one-hour visit a year!
“The women organised rabbit pie evenings!”
Cramlington historian and writer Brian Godfrey, 75, bought the banner 20 years ago.
He said: “It was home-made, from curtains, by members of the Hamilton family from Shankhouse and was first used in a Cramlington procession supporting the 1926 General Strike. Obviously, people just wanted to show their solidarity and used their initiative.”
“The banner had remained in the Hamilton family loft since the 1920s. It was probably used in the huge processions to greet the released “wreckers”.
“When I heard about the banner I bought it for £100.
“For the past two decades it hung in my house and was brought out on occasions. Now I feel it has to be handed down and I’ve given it to Wisecrack Productions who are doing excellent work alongside Cramlington Town Council preserving the town’s brilliant heritage.”
Wisecrack Productions will present Centenary, a show comprising songs, stand-up comedy and comedy sketches, at Glasshouse (formerly The Sage) in Gateshead on Monday, May 4 - the first full day of the 1926 General Strike.
The Cramlington Train Wreckers, written by South Shields man Ed Waugh, is on at Derry Playhouse on July 8 and Belfast Waterfront Hall on July 9 before transferring to Newcastle Theatre Royal on Sunday, July 12.
Find out more here.
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