A TENSE moment from the St Barnabas’ Church Dramatic Society’s production of Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train in 1938 – John Thompson, sixth from the left as Teddy Deakin, who has gone through the play as a “silly ass”, has just revealed himself gun in hand as a detective in disguise!
The St Barnabas’ Church Dramatic Society presented a number of plays at Thwaites Brow, but The Ghost Train, regarded before the war as “one of the most thrilling of present-day dramas”, was particularly ambitious. Its “sudden changes from grim, breathtaking incidents to hilarious comedy” went down well with unsophisticated audiences.
This cast included Frank Baldwin as the stationmaster, whose make-up was “exceptionally authentic”, and Margaret Baldwin as Miss Bourne, “the elderly spinster who succumbs to the effects of too much brandy”!
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