'Welcome Home Puffing Billy'
by Anthony Todd
Wylam on a sunny Saturday
People came from near and far
To experience culture and have fun
William Hedley's descendant Mark Beattie
Opened Puffing Billy day
With a friendly welcome for all
Local songs colour the air
Hexham Lasses and The Blaydon Races
Soaring away on the wings of The Red Kite
As the Stocksfield Stompers play
Their talent shining through
On this sunny day people are having fun
Coal and spoon races
Time trials by Wylam Brownies
Puffing Billy themed shopping trollies on the waggonway
The Elaine Milbourne Dancers
A juxtaposition of the contemporary with the age of steam
Strutting their stuff
Making dexterous moves
To songs from the musicals
And modern dance
Choo Choo Ch'Boogie and The Trolley Song
Everybody doing the locomotion
On this day to remember William Hedley
And Puffing Billy, displayed near the old railway
The star of the show
Puffing Billy as black as coal
Coal that put fire in metallic veins
That powered cogs, wheels and cranks
Steam moving through them
Bringing the locomotive to life
Expelling smoke like a dark, demonic fire-breathing dragon
Hadrian Cloggers dancing merrily
Accompanied by the accordion
Wooden clogs beating in time with the music
Keeping to the rhythm
Like the cadence of wheels on rails
When Billy worked on local waggonways
Hauling coal from Wylam to the Tyne
In chaldron waggons, chuffing puffing along
A marvel of engineering in its own time