A Carlisle woman whose grandfather was one of the imprisoned Cramlington train wreckers is coming home from Canada this November to see the new play about the incident that caused national and international headlines.

 Catherine Bowles (nee Baker) is the paternal granddaughter of Willy Baker, one of the eight Cramlington strikers who found national and international notoriety in 1926. 

They were imprisoned for a total of 48 years after inadvertently derailing the Flying Scotsman in Cramlington, Northumberland, during the nine-day General Strike.

No-one was killed and only one person was slightly injured in the mayhem that ensued after the derailment at Cramlington.

Aged 28, Willy Baker was the second oldest of the imprisoned octet.

Cathy’s dad’s uncle, Tommy Roberts, was another of the "wreckers", also imprisoned.

On September 1, 1928, after two years and three months' imprisonment On September 1, 1928, after two years and three months' imprisonment (Image: The Working-Class Movement Library) Tommy Roberts and Willy Baker were brothers in law. Cathy's grandmother's maiden name was Roberts, she was the sister of Tommy.

 The momentous event which took place on May 10, 1926, during the seventh day of Britain's only General Strike, occurred after Bill Golightly, a mining union official told the strikers to "stop everything on wheels".

Bill Golightly was the grandfather of Geordie actor Robson Green.

 Willy received four years' penal servitude but was released after two years, three months due to a high-profile campaign in the labour and trade union movement.

However, the injustice of his penal sentence has caused discomfort in the family.

 Cathy explained: "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; he could have been a labourer or a glass blower, we just don't know."

Cathy, aged, 64, was born in Carlisle after her dad, from Cramlington, moved there in 1950 to marry her mother.

Cathy emigrated to Canada over forty years ago and will be returning to see the play with her husband, who she met in Canada.

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 Cathy added: "My cousin Christine Waugh [nee Baker] told me about this play, and I felt I had to travel home to see it.

 "In my youth I'd come on school holidays to Cramlington to 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 South Shields performance on November 16.

The Cramlington Train Wreckers is touring the region in November.