For those of you who have not seen or heard of the musical, “Come From Away” depicts the experiences of some stranded travelers when their planes were diverted during the closure of American airspace at the aftermath of September 11th.

In Gander, a small town in Newfoundland and Labrador, residents opened their homes and hearts to people stranded on planes who were desperate to contact family and friends to let them know they were safe . “Come From Away” follows their adventures.

Our first “Come From Awayer” gave me his perspective on this life-changing event through the eyes of a child.

Luke Taylor from Cheslyn Hay was on a trip to visit Disneyland with his family. Although he is only 9 years old, Luke still has vivid memories of this event.

Luke said: “As we were flying over America, I remember a lot of people screaming. I was watching a movie, and then the pilot announced that there had been a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I was so young that I thought the word terrorist actually meant tourist and I thought, “well, we’re all tourists” and kept watching my movie!

“We were then told that the airspace was closed and there wasn’t enough fuel to get back to Heathrow and they were trying to find somewhere to land. Obviously there was a lot of “planes in the sky with the same problem,” Luke said.

“We were told we were going to Canada and it was a very small airport, but they were going to do everything they could to get us off. It was the Gander airport. Luckily, we were one of the first big planes to crash. Despite this, we were stuck on the plane for a long time while they figured out where we were all going to go. We were finally allowed to get off and taken in yellow school buses to a children’s camp in the forest. Only a handful of planes allowed people to take off, the rest had to stay on the planes,” Luke continued.

“We all gathered in what looked like a town hall. We weren’t allowed to carry luggage, but we were given duvets and a Virgin Atlantic bag with basic toiletries, and a room with bunk beds, like a dormitory,” he said. -he declared. “We wore the same clothes for about four days.”

“There were so many people to help us and every now and then a school bus full of McDonalds would arrive to feed us,” he laughed! It must have been heaven for a nine year old!

“I also remember it because it was a camp, there was a big grass field, a forest and a huge lake, so they gave us sports equipment to keep us busy. They didn’t let us see what really happened, so we didn’t know any more. This was before anyone really had a phone, so we didn’t really know anything.

“Then late at night they came and told us to pack our bags because we are now going back to Heathrow. Everyone had to go. If we didn’t all go, no one would go. Obviously, they couldn’t unload all the luggage, but mainly because there could be other terrorists on board the planes.

Luke has fond memories of the people of Gander. “It was amazing, they were as memorable as the event itself,” he said. “There were a lot of kids who went to Disney and were obviously disappointed, but the people played with us, kept us occupied and were very nice. Some of these people didn’t sleep for days trying to help us,” he said fondly.

His family made friends with another family, which helped because they could understand what each other was going through.

Luke did not return to Gander, but landed in Newfoundland. “I think my parents might like to go back because they remember a lot more things than I do,” he said.

And the good news is that Luke and his family arrived in “Mickey Mouse Land” the following year!

Meanwhile, Jason Griffiths from Wall Heath, Kingswinford, and his then girlfriend, now wife, Louise, were heading to the Big Apple for a surprise trip for Jason’s 21st birthday, when their plane was hijacked just under an hour from the city.

Louise told me: “I worked all summer at WH Smith to save money for the trip and I was originally going to book tickets for the Sunday before and so if we had gone at that time -there we would have actually been in New York when the tragedy occurred. .” It seems that fate intervened and Jason and Louise were supposed to fly away a little later and thus stay safe.

“Even though we were young and probably a little naive at the time, when they announced the closure of American airspace, we were really worried because our first thought was that the plane had been hijacked,” said Jason said.

“Redirected to Gander, the plane remained on the runway for another 12 hours before we could take off. By then the news was starting to come in. We found out that on our plane there was a lady whose son was a firefighter in New York and she was obviously desperate to know if he was okay,” Jason continued.

When Jason sees the series, I think he will be very moved by his story because it is part of the storyline.

They then spent four nights sleeping on the floor or in army beds at Elms Lodge, which Jason describes as “a sort of working man’s club.”

“The people of Gander were amazing. As soon as we arrived they brought blankets, homemade food and drinks, we didn’t pay anything. Everything was given,” he said.

Louise told me: “There was a guy who ran a bar inside the lodge and he barely went home to sleep. They just made sure everything was okay all the time. They arranged for us to take turns going to the only hotel there so we could take a shower.

And there were also all kinds of people from all walks of life stuck. “We looked after Woody Harrelson’s children while we were there, as his wife and children were also redirected to the lodge,” Jason said.

Jason continued: “We sat outside in the sun talking and drinking and made lifelong friends who we have stayed with ever since. A friend, Kev, lives in Queens and last year we took the kids to meet him too.

It was Kev who recommended that Jason and Louise see the show, as he had seen it on Broadway.

The couple want their own children, Orson, 15, and Esme, 12, to have a glimpse of mom and dad’s adventures. So the whole family has tickets to the Saturday morning show performance downtown and has great expectations. impatiently.

I can’t wait to see what our local “Come From Awayers” think of the show and if it stirs up any emotions all these years later. I also connected them with each other, so they could remember and share this experience of their lives.

“Come From Away” is at the Wolverhampton Grand Theater from November 5-9. For tickets visit grandtheatre.co.uk or call 01902 429212.