Latest news with #HelenaThompsonMuseum
BBC News
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Quest to solve Victorian murder leads to televison series
When a filmmaker had a dream he could not make sense of, he never imagined it would trigger a 15-year journey to solve the murder of a Victorian body of 16-year-old Lucy Sands was found under a pile of cobbles, three months after her disappearance from Workington, Cumbria in Stephen Baldwin had never heard of Lucy Sands - or her unexplained death - when he dreamt he was walking along a street and heard the blood-curdling scream of a young 15 years after that dream, the filmmaker is putting the finishing touches to a seven-part TV series exploring the life and death of the teenager, in which, he claims, he solves her unexplained murder. 'Not forgotten' "I didn't know what that dream was, but it stuck with me," said Mr the director began trawling through historic records, focusing on Maryport - and eventually, he came across the murder of Lucy Sands. He became was born in Northern Ireland, but when her parents died, she and her brother James were sent to live with their grandmother on Christian Street in December evening in 1881 Lucy went to meet friends in town - among them, it is believed, a gentleman friend called Maynard - and she never returned. Her disappearance attracted worldwide attention and dominated the local news at the time. "I had to dispel what was going on in my head so I went to Workington in my van for a couple of days, and headed to Christian Street," recalls the 63-year-old filmmaker."I met a man there who gave me a lot of information - and I found out where Lucy was murdered."From there, he headed to Northside - the area where Lucy's body was found - and it was then he realised that it was the same place he had seen in his became obsessed with the story, and in 2018 Mr Baldwin began filming The Ballad of Lucy Sands. Initially Mr Baldwin wanted to make a film, but as he researched the story, there was just too much information so it became a seven-part series for filmmaker even tracked down relatives of the alleged killer, in Wales and America - with two of them appearing in the series."One is a serving police officer and one is a retired one, so we got them to play the officers arresting him."The first four episodes have already been screened at the Helena Thompson Museum in Workington, with the final three episodes due to be shown in the director doesn't want to spoil the ending ahead of its screening, but he believes he has solved the cold case of Lucy's untimely death."The killer escaped justice. We know they had him in cells for six weeks, but he got away with it," he said. More than 300 local people worked as actors and extras in the series, which was filmed at locations including Workington, Whitehaven and Marian Finn, from Egremont, plays Sarah Harrison, the mother of Maynard, who was involved with Lucy and was present the night she disappeared."I hadn't heard about Lucy Sands at all, and I think the way the story came about and how it was conceived by the director is fascinating," she said."Lucy was a young girl who had her life cut short in such a horrible way, and now everybody knows about her - she's not forgotten."The 70-year-old had been involved in local theatre groups, but did not have much screen experience. She said the filming gave her the opportunity to meet other local actors, and the confidence to apply for other on-screen roles."It's given me that experience, and everyone who's had that could take it further," said the actress, who has since starred in the ITV series Innocent, filmed in Keswick. Lasting legacy After the first episodes of the series were shown in Workington, the town council decided to create a permanent tribute to Lucy month a memorial was created on the grounds of St John's Church, on the site of Lucy Sands' Baldwin said he was proud to see the memorial created, describing her memory as "something that's been lost for too long".He is currently editing the last episodes of the series ahead of their premiere in June, meaning his journey with Lucy Sands is drawing to a close."It's been a 15-year journey for me - I'm quite sad we're coming to the end of it." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
19-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Workington Town rugby club's heritage celebrated at exhibition
A town's rich rugby league history will be celebrated when current and old players join fans for an Helena Thompson Museum in Workington is opening its Workington Town RLFC archives of old photos, cups, memorabilia, including footage from the team's win at Wembley in the 1952 Challenge Tony Wareing, a director at the museum, that match meant something on a personal level, as his late father James, known as Pongo, played in it."It's absolutely brilliant - you can see all the spectators with cloth caps and mufflers - it's great," he said. He also remembers his mother polishing the cup each week to make sure it always looked its best, he Mr Wareing is not the only one to have a personal connection to Town, as the team is known among fans. Tricia Poole, museum manager, remembers running onto the pitch when the team won the Lancashire Cup in late father Joe Holliday, a die-hard Town fan, is credited with gathering one of the biggest bodies of research on the club and its players."I've been brought up on rugby league - I didn't know anything else," she Holliday and his wife Dorothy, who still volunteers at the museum aged 79, spent many weekends at libraries around the country gathering information, which culminated in many books and stacks of documents still stored at their family home. Some of his memorabilia is now on permanent display at the museum, which also features an image of Mr Wareing's father."His photograph is on the landing, it's great to be able to say good morning to him every time I go up," he month a small event for current Town players was held at the museum, as the team prepares to celebrate the club's 80th anniversary this Smith, manager of the club's community trust, said: "Tricia, Dorothy and Tony are proud guardians of Joe's work and we as a club cannot thank Joe or the team at the Helena Thompson Museum enough."As a club we strive to get back to those glory days and know it will take hard work, dedication and a full team effort - the visit gave the lads inspiration and a sense of what we can aim to be again."The exhibition begins on Saturday at 10.00 GMT, with players attending from 11.00, and closes on Sunday. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.
