Official launch for North East playwright's book

A previous launch date was cancelled because of Covid-19.

Produced by Tyne Bridge Publishing, this collection comprises The Great Joe Wilson, Hadaway Harry and Carrying David.

Hadaway Harry is about Harry Clasper, a former Durham miner from Dunston, who invented the sport of rowing as we know it today. The Blaydon Races was written for Harry's testimonial at Balmbra's in 1862.

“Rowing was the sport of the working class before football,” explained Ed, “and Harry was the world's biggest star.

“When he died on July 9, 1870, 130,000 people lined his funeral procession in Newcastle.”

Carrying David is about Glenn McCrory's slog to become, in 1989, the first world boxing champion from the North East – inspired by his terminally ill brother David.

The Great Joe Wilson is about the man who was known as ‘The Bard of Tyneside’.

Ed, whose play Wor Bella – the story of Blyth Spartans Ladies' remarkable munitionettes' cup victory in May 1918 – premiered earlier this year, said: “Joe wrote around 360 songs and poems in his brief lifetime (1841 to 1875) including well-known songs still sung today like Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny, Sally Wheatley and The Chap That Knaas Nowt.”

Carrying David and The Great Joe Wilson were performed to packed audiences at the Playhouse, Whitley Bay.

The book launch takes place at 6pm on Saturday, November 26, at Bewick Hall, Newcastle City Library. Jamie Brown (who starred in Hadaway Harry and the Great Joe Wilson) will be singing some Geordie songs.

Tickets are only £4 and available from www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/books-on-tyne-2022-the-newcastle-book-festival-tickets-416617272477