Wartime escape by train

Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership and Wallsend Local History Society invite you to the premiere of the film, It Started with a Train Ride, featuring memories of children evacuated from Wallsend to Haltwhistle by train during World War 2 Premieres are taking place on: Monday, 12 September 2022 at St Luke's Church Hall, Wallsend, 1630 for 1700 hours and Tuesday, 13 September 2022, The Comrades Club, Haltwhistle, 1845 for 1900 hours Please RSVP [email protected] Thank you to the North of Tyne Combined Authority and everyone who supported this project through the crowdfunding campaign We are grateful for all those people who shared their memories and to the young people of Haltwhistle, without whom this film would not have been possible. We would like to celebrate our success in the project being shortlisted in the Community Rail Awards 2022 with you.

We are pleased that our Wartime Escape by Train project has been shortlisted in the national Community Rail Awards 2022 in the "Involving Diverse Groups" category. The film created with your support "It Started with a Train Ride" features evacuees reflecting on their memories of the World War 2 and their evacuation to Haltwhistle. It has brought together children, evacuees (now in their 80’s and 90’s) and adults with learning disabilities to produce a film which speaks strongly of the role railways played in many journeys of evacuation. Thanks to Wallsend History Society research and their subsequent interviews with evacuees, a myriad of experiences was recalled of the impact of the evacuation from war-damaged Tyneside to rural Northumberland. Haltwhistle Film Project and Film Able, a film production company run by and for people with learning disabilities, have created the film featuring evacuees and young people. Film Able members had lots of input into the content of the film, creating an animated backdrop to go with the voiceovers. The statistics of the project are staggering: • Nearly 30 former evacuees interviewed and recorded • 12 hours of interviews recorded from which 74 stories were extracted. • Over 50 Scouts, Brownies, Rainbows and young people from Haltwhistle’s Young and Sweet Youth Club playing the role of evacuated children at Haltwhistle station and learning about the role the railway played in bringing children in 1940 to safety. The 17-minute-long film is packed with stories, with the railway playing centre stage. TVCRP are currently planning the premier screening of the film with our partners and look forward to bringing the communities together once again.