JULIA VARLEY PLAQUE IN BRADFORD FINALLY OFFICIALLY UNVEILED

 

Former TUC President Mohammad Taj and Caroline Conway of Bradford TUC unveil Julia Varley plaque 

The long-planned Julia Varley plaque dedication event on the former Bradford Trades Union Council building finally took place at 1pm on Friday 1 May, 2026, at the junction of Sackville Street and Sunbridge Road, BD1 2SX 

The speakers were Mohammad Taj (TUC President 2013-14), Caroline Conway (Bradford and Shipley TUC), cllr Taj Salam (Unite), Jane Aitchison. (Leeds TUC President)  It was chaired by Mark Metcalf (NUJ)

 30 people were in attendance - Bradford City Council had failed to close the road and in order to ensure the safety of those attending the event was not as widely publicised as I would have wanted. 

       The Leeds TUC President Jane Aitchison was one of the speakers and she was well received. 

The speakers on the day are joined by Julia's cousin Joanne Downing,  who was afterwards really happy about the event. She took away a copy of the Julia Varley booklet, a link to which can be found below. 

Mill worker Julia Varley was a prominent campaigner for workers’ rights during the city’s late Victorian industrial boom. She was a key figure in the infamous Manningham Mills strikes, as well as being involved in the formation of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford. Varley campaigned for better wages for workers, and was a leading figure in Bradford Trades Union Council.

As a suffragette she struggled for the Rights of Women to vote within the Women's Social and Political Union and was twice sent to prison for her commitment. 

In 1909, Varley moved to Birmingham to work as a trade union organiser, firstly for George Cadbury and George Shann before joining the Workers' Union where she inspired thousands to join the trade union movement. She was key to the  struggle the Cornish clayworkers in 1913 who despite being brutally attacked by Glamorgan police were to win the right to join a union. The success established unions in mid-Cornwall. 

She was one of the first women to serve on the TUC general council. She later became the Chief Women's Officer of the Transport and General Workers Union. On her retirement she moved back to Bradford where she died in Hampden Street, Horton, where UNITE's Taj Salam, a speaker at the unveiling, currently serves as an Independent Councillor. 

Julia Varley booklet:- https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/6328-julia-varley-booklet.pdf

* The reasons for the long delay in the unveiling of the plaque will be explained on this blog in the near future. It is not a tale that has any merit for prominent individuals in parts of the Bradford Labour Party, trade union and anti-fascist movement. 

The photographs are courtesy of John Mooney. I'd like to thank him for taking them.

ONGOING PALESTINE ASSEMBLY IN HALIFAX

On International Workers' Day I, again, attended the Friday public gathering in Halifax Town Centre. The reception was mixed with lots of car drivers tooting their horns in support and passengers giving big thumbs up. Some of those in local pubs are not so supportive and have chosen to come and tell us so. Racism and sexism has been employed by our opponents as the backbone of the regular assembly are women of colour. 

Sunderland talk on the 1926 Miners' Lock Out and General Strike

On 13 April 2026 I spoke in Sunderland at a public meeting organised by the Literary & Philosophical Society. The subject was the 1926 Miners' Lockout and General Strike. I was one of three speakers alongside academic Duncan Hamilton and a political hero of mine, Heather Wood. 

This was how I introduced myself -  Peterlee born football author and socialist Mark Metcalf supports the only football club to be formed by a trade union, Sunderland AFC. A semi-skilled machine operator and GMWU shop steward at Tudor Foods in his early years, Mark was the secretary of Sunderland Fans Against Racism in the 90s through to 2004.

Working in London in the 90s, Mark was spied upon by the Special Demonstration Squad for ‘crimes’ such as successfully organising workers who defied the anti-union laws + victims of miscarriages of justice.

Now living in West Yorkshire, Mark has been a full-time writer since 2008 and has, in particular, an extensive knowledge of rural affairs. His work for Unite the Union has included many booklets on heroes from the past + a short booklet on the 1926 Miners’ Lockout and General Strike.

Mark was very active during the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, about which he later co-wrote a highly successful book: Images of the Miners’ Strike.

In recent years, Mark has made a number of short films including The forming of Sunderland AFC in 1880 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usd-c8GvpQE and Sunderland’s Peterloo – Remembering The 1825 North Sand’s Massacre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J_VXf_IIVs

www.markwrite.co.uk   metcalfmc@outlook.com   07392 852561 

40+ attended the event and which I enjoyed. There were lots of questions and the society has a very good venue in which to organise similar events going forward. Well done to them. I'll be recommending it to anyone living on Wearside. 

Workers' Memorial Day in Halifax 2026

 

There were 14 people at the Calderdale Workers’ Memorial Day event organised by Calderdale Trades Union Council and held just outside Halifax Central Library yesterday. Amongst those who gathered was former Halifax Labour MP Linda Riordan who  also laid the wreath in memory of those killed in the last year as a result of work.

                                                                     Linda Riordan 

The main speaker was Mark Metcalf who dedicated his speech to the memory of a friend, electrician  Daniel Lee, a building and railway worker, who died as a result of mesothelioma, which remains a major killer, on 15 June last year. For more on Daniel watch TRACKS OF SOLIDARITY:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzZPMcSJKGQ

Mark recalled the tragic events of the Easington Colliery disaster of 75 years on 29 May 1951 in which two of his uncles were killed alongside 81 other miners.

Mark spoke of the heartache of losing a relative and friend and this was later brought home when Jenny Lynn told of the death of a relative, Dave Jones, who also lost his life to mesothelioma.

                                                                   Jenny Lynn 

It was noted that 70% of workplace deaths are the result of management failures and in some cases gross negligence.

Attention was drawn to the death locally in 2017 of Andrew Tibbott at Deco-Pak where safety systems were deliberately disabled. 24 years earlier six people, including lorry driver Derek Waterworth, were killed in Sowerby Bridge as a result of excessively worn brakes that had not been maintained by his employer who nevertheless, unlike at Deco-Pak, escaped prosecution. These cases form part of a 2-minute film: REMEMBER THE DEAD – FIGHT FOR THE LIVING produced by Dave Hackney and Mark Metcalf and which can be viewed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyeMYnpVjo

The Calderdale Trades Union Council has also highlighted the deaths of workers from the past by recently publishing a booklet on a boiler explosion in 1850 no more than 150 yards from the library and in which 12, mainly female and young, workers lost their lives. The owner of the workplace though escaped any sanctions for his negligence. Read the HE WHO WEEPS booklet at:- https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/he-who-weeps.pdf

  Mick Foster from Sowerby Bridge was able to bring much better news in that the company who had sought permission to build an incinerator and were defeated by a vigorous local campaign appear to have finally accepted defeat and have removed the equipment from their site. This is a very welcome victory and shows the power of campaigning.

Peter Keal, treasurer of Calderdale TUC, read out the statement from Fight Against Corporate Killers (FACK), which since 2006 has supported families and friends of those killed in work-related incidents by negligent employers. https://gmhazards.org.uk/index.php/fack/

Nigel Smith added to the occasion by reading out a poem. Metcalf reported how trade union organised workplaces were safer and stressed the need for workers to join up, get organised and elect representatives, including safety reps, to put their concerns to management and fight for them to be carried out.

Linda Riordan laid the wreath at the end of event that lasted around 45 minutes.

FIGHTING TALK DOCUMENTARY LIST UPDATES

 

Fighting Talk short labour movement documentaries by Mark Metcalf, a member of the NUJ and Calderdale Trades Union Council

@markmetcalf07 metcalfmc@outlook.com 07392 852561

Don’t Walk By – It Didn’t Stop with Ellen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0MtKGQA58 + accompanying booklet

WHO’S BETTY TEBBS? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrWBJZr3I68

Just Grow to Eat -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu3HJtbXvd8 32 mins

There are major issues that will determine where we get our food from in the future.

JUST GROW TO EAT is a 30-minute journey across north west England explaining developments in Britain’s countryside such that - with the supermarkets ruling – food imports continue growing at the expense of the environment, people’s health and weight, real green jobs and rural communities.

Soil scientist and board member at the Incredible Farm in Todmorden, Charlie Clutterbuck outlines how food can be grown locally. Then by combining this with £3bn subsidies –around what Britain once received back from the EU – to harder up people to buy healthy food this will boost local economies, thus creating more jobs on the land.

Produced by Charlie Clutterbuck, Dave Hackney and Mark Metcalf this film aims to encourage debate about food and farming and could be used by communities or online.

  ‘Bread not Bayonets’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UxMadnIEA

The dramatic story of Halifax in August 1842 when local workers downed tools to join a national general strike for better pay and extended voting rights and many lost their lives as a consequence of a massacre by the army. 32 minutes long Produced with Francesca Platt of Bolton Video Box

Mark Metcalf and Dave Hackney short films:-

Sunderland's Peterloo: Remembering the 1825 North Sands Massacre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J_VXf_IIVs&t=40s  14 minutes

Bradford bus driver's journey - trade unionist Mohammad Taj

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltf0aXhdbOU&t=18s 24 minutes

Keith Laybourn - STITCHED UP - Bradford's textile unions until 1926

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e58Hfhboes&t=56s   42 minutes

Andrew Feinstein on Gaza, Genocide and what it means for the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNpv82dKVqs&t=3s 32 minutes

Andrew Feinstein - The Struggle for Democracy - Halifax 1842 & South Africa 1948-1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXW73WoRPG8&t=17s 20 minutes

Save Our GP surgeries say Calderdale TUC  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osayP8a21so

Calderdale Council Cuts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux8VIxFDiMk 3 minutes.

Dentists set to bare teeth after 2024 GE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAqjsZj-Aj8&t=3s

Rescue Public Education  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9sJiizoeTY 2 minutes

Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyeMYnpVjo

Not so Happy Valley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcrdIlxs60

Andrew Watson: Halifax's Black Footballing Pioneer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvYf6kZn_7A

2023 call for a plaque to be mounted at the Halifax school that the first black football international attended in the late 19^th century. 2 minutes.

In 2025 the plaque was unveiled by Viv Anderson, England’s first black international player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOzfmAZn1M 3 minutes

Remembering Ellen Strange - Memorial Walk for Domestic Violence Victims 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0_uhqtIuoI

Pay Up to Save The NHS - The Junior Doctors Strike https://youtu.be/AA23wwcQTjY 12 minutes

Halifax Chartist Hero Remembered: Benjamin Rushton https://youtu.be/fp4mth4LfwY 14 minutes

Keep Our NHS Public Leeds - 75 Years of NHS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2GVgLQVGDA

Ellen Strange: The Light That Still Burns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPMaOEroepU  Adam Marseille

More to come. If you’d like to support this work donations can be made to Mark Metcalf metcalfmc@outlook.com 07392 851561

Sort code 60-09-27 Account number 77358244

 

WORKERS' MEMORIAL DAY IN HALIFAX NEXT TUESDAY

 

DON'T WALK BY - IT DIDN'T STOP WITH ELLEN booklet and film now out

A new free booklet and film featuring the motivations of those who have played key roles in turning the Ellen Strange Commemoration event on Holcombe Moor into part of the ongoing struggle against domestic abuse have been released. 

The booklet can be downloaded at:- 

https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/dont-walk-by-final.pdf

Hard copies are also available, postage costs only for anyone wanting a copy.

The film, produced by Bolton Video Box is 18 minutes long and can be viewed at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0MtKGQA58&t=19s