Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership and children from schools in the Brampton area will be celebrating two hundred years of rail travel in a musical performance taking place in Lanercost Priory on Tuesday, 1 July.
Pupils from Hallbankgate Village School and Lanercost Church of England Primary School have collaborated with singer songwriters Gareth Davies-Jones and Bronwen Davies-Jones to create new works to premiere at the event.
The song performed by pupils from Hallbankgate will feature the invention of a rail ticketing system by Thomas Edmondson, the first stationmaster of Milton Junction Station (now Brampton). Lanercost schoolchildren will sing about why Brampton Station is over a mile from the town.
Headteacher, Clare Hutton of Hallbankgate School said “The pupils have so enjoyed the process of song writing, evidenced by their singing about Edmondson in the playground. Gareth and Bronwen have been able to bring a song engineer into school, ensuring that this project has focused on a sense of place and on skills for the future.”
Lexi Wilkinson, head of Lanercost School said, “It has been a brilliant opportunity for them to build confidence, explore creative songwriting and performance, and learn more about their local area in a meaningful way.”
Singer songwriters, Gareth and Bronwen said “All the kids had wonderful levels of enthusiasm and a plethora of ideas from the beginning of the process and throughout.”
When the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway opened in 1838, railway tickets were handwritten. Stationmaster, Thomas Edmondson, was concerned by the potential of fraud with the use of handwritten tickets. He used his cabinet making experience to construct a system of pre-printed cardboard tickets, each with a serial number, stored in specially constructed racks. His ticketing system, which provided a means of checking ticket sales against the money collected, was adopted by other UK railway companies and across the world. Edmondson tickets were still being used in India in 2023.
Today, there is bewilderment as to why Brampton Station is so far from the town. The songwriting experience has helped the children learn about how the Earl of Carlisle’s coal was transported from Tindale Fell to Brampton along a wagonway and how the Dandy Line linked the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway station with the town.
Lanercost Priory will provide a spectacular venue for this event, which will be attended by invited guests and family members of the children performing the songs.
Railway 200 is a national celebration of 200 years of rail travel.
Turn on your audio to listen to a clip of the song Edmondson performed by Hallbankgate Village School