RIP Charlie Hurley (04-10-1936: 22-04-2024)
The 35 minute podcast on which I appear around 15 minutes is at:-
https://www.a-love-supreme.com/single-post/charlie-hurley-tribute-podcast
Monday, 29 April 2024
The flowers of freedom: How a red carnation freed Portugal of tyranny – 50 years ago today
The flowers of freedom
How a red carnation freed Portugal of tyranny – 50 years
ago today
Thursday, April 25th, 2024
Reading time: 10 min
From Unite Live
https://unitelive.org/portugal-carnation-revolution-50-years-ago-today/
April 25, 1974 – and the world witnessed a 48-year authoritarian reign of terror that had stunted industrial development being swept aside in Portugal by a coup led by middle ranking army officers.
Known as the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) they had become
radicalised by the Iberian nations determination to retain its sprawling
colonial empire, large parts of which in Africa were fighting back and winning.
The MFA cut the head off the armed forces by getting rid of 100 generals.
The coup, mainly in Lisbon, unleashed a torrent of workers’
activity that, following a 19-month period when their existed the possibility
of a socialist transformation, helped bring about a democratic revolution
that dramatically raised Portuguese living standards, freedoms and horizons.
Portugal’s fascist dictator, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was
a contemporary of Hitler, Franco and Mussolini and ruled one of Europe’s oldest
countries, a key UK ally, from 1932 to 1968. He died in 1970.
Sham elections had followed in which the government
candidate ran virtually unopposed whilst other parties used the limited
freedoms to protest. The secret police – the PIDE – which could arrest anyone
considered to be plotting against the regime continued to harass, imprison and
murder communists, socialists and trade unionists, forcing all of them to
organise secretly.
Meanwhile, brutal colonial wars continued to be waged in
Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau by the Portuguese state that, with Salazar
keen to retain his title of Emperor, had, unlike other major colonial
powers that had abandoned their colonies following WWII, chosen to continue to
occupy.
Change was desperately needed.
Yet hardly anyone was aware when they woke up on April 25,
1974 that it was already happening. A coup had started after rebel soldiers had
heard their secretly agreed signal at 12.20am on Radio Renascence. This
consisted of the playing of a song by Zeca Afonso ‘Grandola, Vila Morena.’
Following which troops immediately began occupying strategic points of power in
the country. The song later became famous as the anthem of the revolution.
When the generals then found troops not involved in the plot
were unwilling to follow orders to attack their comrades and were, in fact,
desperate to participate in the revolt then it was clear that, despite the PIDE
shooting dead four of the demonstrators, an unstoppable movement had begun.
It was one that with rebel troops taking to wearing red
carnations in their gun barrels became known as the Carnation Revolution.
A spontaneous mass movement then exploded across the
country. Factories were occupied and enormous demonstrations organised.
Now married to Unite Landworker photographer Peter Smith and
happily living in Norfolk, the then 17-year-old João Zilanova (pictured
in main photo) was a high school student living with her grandparents in the
University town of Coimbra outside Lisbon.
She had spent her formative years in Mozambique. Her dad was
an agronomist providing technical support to the white farmers, many of whom
treated local people very badly, sent to populate the southeast African country
occupied by the Portuguese following their arrival there in 1498.
“He was a secret socialist. The local people who worked for
us were not treated as servants. My mother, a kindergarten teacher, began
providing social services like weighing babies locally for everyone, black and
white. We were unusual but being so far from Portugal meant the secret police
were not everywhere. We had books from all the great socialist writers.”
The Mozambique War of Independence between the FRELIMO
guerilla forces and Portugal had started in 1964. Despite driving everywhere in
his Land Rover; João’s dad was never attacked. “The guerilla’s saw their enemy
as the Portuguese military led by General Spinola. Dad was often told to stay
away from areas that might prove to be dangerous.” João s dad was also in
Lisbon on April 25, 1974.
“No one knew what was coming. My sister and I went to High
School on the morning of the 25th and at lunchtime they told us
to go home. We caught the bus, when we saw a demo, we joined in. My father was
delighted,” states Joao.
“The disastrous overseas wars had inspired the initial
rebellion but then the workers came to play a big role. It was like the cork
coming out of a bottle of Champagne. Workers occupied factories and mass
meetings discussed how to re-organise society. The atmosphere was electric,
everything seemed possible. Women played a big role.”
Backed by the Catholic Church, Salazar’s reactionary family
values had blocked women from working in many workplaces.
The Catholic radio station Renascensa, founded in 1936, was
occupied. People tuned to hear what was happening. It told people, who for
decades had feared talking openly to their neighbours in case it led to them
being reported to the authorities, to come to protest in the streets or support
occupations.
Searching for a new way of living was difficult. In
1975, London born Carlos
Guarita, a Unite Community member from Dorset, returned to the country
where he had lived with his grandparents in the 1950s.
His Portuguese parents had fled to London to escape poverty
and possible persecution after his dad participated in a tram strike that was
defeated when his workplace was occupied by the PIDE and military.
Speaking from Lisbon, where he has joined the 50th anniversary
celebrations, Carlos, who was later a TGWU steward at Ford Dagenham before
becoming a photographer who specialised in working in war zones, said: “It was
a very confused situation in 1975. That was not too surprising especially as
many people were illiterate plus there was no recent history of open political
discussion. There were 13 parties of the left. Workers were left confused.
Plus, change had not been initiated from below by the masses. There were no
horizontal structures and state power remained.” This later allowed members of
the Salazar government and his PIDE thugs to escape justice for their crimes.
A coalition government that included the Socialist Party and
the Communist Party was established. Yet despite the fact that the elections in
April 1975 took place in a period of revolutionary ferment, most Portuguese
voted for parties committed to pluralistic democracy.
Meanwhile, new forms of trade unions had been established.
It is estimated that around 380 self-managed factories and 500 co-ops were in
operation by the summer of 1975. Empty housing properties too were occupied.
Banks were nationalised.
By August 1975 official statistics showed that over 330
different land collectives were operating.
“This was because landless farmworkers seized land allowing
them to secure production of crops from their land that were collectively
organised and controlled by the workers not the government. This allowed
farmworkers to provide themselves with regular employment, lifting themselves
out of poverty but also increasing agricultural products to be exported,”
explains Bev Clarkson, Unite National Officer for Food, Drink and
Agriculture (FDA). “This is the power workers have if they work
collectively together, in short this is grass roots trade unionism.”
By September 1975, Guinea-Bissau had gained
independence and talks were underway on the liberation of the other colonies.
According to retired farmworker John Burbidge, who chairs the
Tolpuddle Unite FDA branch, these developments helped create revolutionary
change across Southern Africa. “Ian Smith’s Rhodesia and the Apartheid
regime in South Africa could no longer rely on Portuguese military backing and
Mozambique became a base for guerilla raids into South Africa by the APLA. This
forced De Klerk to release Nelson Mandela and negotiate the end of Apartheid.”
In Portugal in November 1975 an attempted coup by far-left
activists keen to establish communism was supressed in favour of more
democratic means of running the country.
A new constitution, followed by elections, was accepted in
April 1976. By declaring the extensive nationalisations and land seizures of
1975 irreversible meant, even though the co-ops, collectives and workers’
committee had to negotiate on capitalist terms for the price of the labour, a
much brighter future lay ahead for the Portuguese people.
Such has proved to be the case. “Electrification of
the whole country has facilitated a stronger industrial base. There have been
massive improvements in the education and health systems,” states Carlos, who
is also proud that after 1974, Portuguese exiles in Britain established the
International Workers’ Branch in the TGWU.
João too recognises how life for ordinary Portuguese has
improved in the last 50 years.
“When my granddad died, my grandmother did not even have a
pension to exist on. People worked till they died. And there were no social
services. That changed after the mid-70s. Life has improved as a result
of the April 25, 1974 Revolution that was so exciting to be a part of and that
ended fascism in Portugal and brought about a form of social democracy. I am
delighted to be here today in Lisbon on the 50th anniversary.”
Sue Longley, general secretary of the International
Food, Farm and Hotel workers told UNITElive, “The 50th anniversary of the
Carnation Revolution is a timely reminder that we can never take democracy for
granted.
“It brought an end Europe’s longest-lasting dictatorship and
was the beginning of the end of Portugal’s colonial empire.
“Looking around the world today we see the rise of the right
and the increasing attacks on democracy. As in 1974 so now, trade unions around
the world must fight to protect democracy. This should be our way to honour the
Carnation Revolution.”
FIND OUT MORE
João recommended the novel A Small Death in
Lisbon by Robert Wilson for readers keen to find out more about
the historical context of the 1974 Revolution and its aftermath.
By Mark Metcalf
Photos by Peter Everard-Smith
Former Derbyshire mining community celebrates its football heritage and commemorates colliery workers as three plaques unveiled: Derbyshire Times
Great day.
Former Derbyshire mining community celebrates its
football heritage and commemorates colliery workers as three plaques unveiled
Three plaques have been unveiled in Blackwell commemorating
the village's colliery workers as well as two FA footballers who played for the
local football team - Willie Layton and Billy ‘Fatty’ Foulke.
Delighted to help open Hackney Art Activism Festival
It was great to play a role in opening the 10 day Hackney Art Activism Festival on Saturday 27 April.
My role was to speak about the work of the Colin Roach Centre between 1993 and 1999 and I followed Graham Smith who spoke of the work of the Hackney Community Defence Association.
.jpg)
.jpg) |
.jpg)
Times article justifies my decision to challenge Charlie Hurley on the title of his authorised biography
Charlie Hurley died on 22 April 2024.
Back in 2006 when I met my dad's favourite footballer Charlie Hurley to discuss getting his backing for the book I was writing on him the meeting went well and Charlie agreed for it to become an authorised biography. It came out in October 2008 and was a big success. A series of public speaking events went, especially in the North East, very well.
As we moved towards publication date one issue that did concern Charlie was the title "The Greatest Centre Half the World has ever seen" and which was taken from the chant by Sunderland fans "Whose the Greatest Centre Half the World has ever seen?" Charlie felt it might lead to some of his ex team mates, as footballers do, having a joke at his expense and alsoseem a bit big headed.
I was insistent that was the title, stating "it is your legacy this book and that is what the fans who loved you thought" and so it stayed as the title. Amidst the many articles written following his death relatively few have done Charlie justice in terms of his ball control and ability to direct the play. So it was great to read The Times obituary, clearly written using the book, that does the great man justice.
RIP Charlie.
.jpg)
Tuesday, 23 April 2024
RURAL REBELS AT HEART
RURAL REBELS AT HEART
From the Peasants’ Revolt to defending local services, there’s
a Unite rural member at the heart of it
Slightly longer version of article from Spring 2024
edition of a Unite Landworker article, which is below.
The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers
(NUAW), which lives on as part of Unite, features prominently in the Museum
of English Rural Life (MERL) online exhibition on The Evolution of English
Rural Life that also incorporates earlier rural protests plus Joseph Arch’s
National Agricultural Labourers’ Union (NALU) of the 19th
century.
The countryside has always been marked by class struggle.
The 1381 Peasants’ Revolt that had numerous causes was triggered by the ruling
class attempting to pay for an expensive war in France by collecting unpaid
poll taxes.
Brought on by the prospect of starvation, the Captain
Swing riots of 1830 across southern and eastern England saw barns set
alight and the smashing of threshing machines that had replaced flails, which
feature in the exhibition.
Four years later an attempt by landless labourers at
Tolpuddle to form a trade union led to persecution and the deportation of six
men that in the aftermath resulted in such massive protests that the men were
eventually allowed to return home.
And so it goes on. Rural resentment continued to simmer.
Labourers needed a voice. That was found in the figure of Joseph Arch, a
hedger and ditcher from Bedford whose natural talent for speaking drew enormous
crowds. He was able to form NALU in 1872. Within two years 86,000 labourers –
around a tenth of the rural workforce - had joined and wages had been improved.
However, when the farmers imposed a lock out and drove
conditions back down it forced some of the best militants to seek work overseas
and the union collapsed in 1895, by which time Arch had become a Liberal MP.
With poverty causing real countryside hardship the NUAW saw
rural workers re-organise. The new union began in 1906 in Norfolk where major
strikes broke out in three villages in 1910-11. Pay was upped and a Saturday
half-day won. The NUAW’s first banner from 1913 is displayed online.
Victoria Cross
William Holmes had worked closely with George Edwards to
establish the NUAW. He became its General Secretary and later told American
trade unionists: "In many of our villages, a man who joins a trade union
is worthy of the Victoria Cross that's won on a battlefield. In many villages
he dare not be known to be a member of the union. But to be a branch secretary!
That is to risk one's livelihood every day in the week".
Which brings us to today. We meet three of our own ‘rural
rebels.’
It is a belief echoed decades later by NUAW activists in Tony
Gould and Barry Leathwood who alongside Chris Kaufmann also subsequently worked
for the union and who together in the mid-80s contributed heavily to the book SKILLED
AT ALL TRADES – The History of the farmworkers’ union 1947-1984, at which
point the NUAW amalgamated with the Transport and General Workers Union (UNITE)
that also had its own agricultural sector.
The only voice of dissent
Tony Gould had gone to grammar school but enjoyed working
with animals, so began as a general farm boy before progressing to becoming a pig herd manager. He was 28
when, unimpressed by the inequalities he witnessed on a large Cornwall estate,
he joined the NUAW as they “were the only voice of dissent… I saw farmworkers
who lived blameless lives, yet they were very poor”.
As a Labour Party member, Gould was unimpressed by farmers
that went around talking about honesty but who were engaging in tax evasive
activities.
He knew the NUAW were represented on the Agricultural Wages
Board (AWB) and would stick up for them if they were sacked and being forced to
leave the tied accommodation which came with their job. Around two-thirds of
Gould’s fellow workers on a relatively large farm were NUAW members but which,
nevertheless, the employer refused to recognise.
His employer, who three months earlier had told him
that his job and trade union activities were
incompatible, showed Tony no mercy and sacked him. Fortunately, the NUAW then
stepped in with a favourable grant to allow him to study at Ruskin College,
Oxford. Just before completing his degree, he became the Kent NUAW District
Officer in June 1975. He remained a union official for 30 years and even today
is active as the branch secretary of the Tolpuddle Unite branch.
“I was delighted to represent farm and rural workers. One of
the major struggles was opposing tied cottages that led to numerous cases of
workers who’d lost their jobs, often for no real reason, who were then
summarily evicted from their homes. We’d try, occasionally successfully, to
stop this by mounting immediate protests, which generally attracted press
coverage, or by helping find new accommodation.
“But it also required political action. Thanks, in a large
part to the tireless, heroic efforts of Joan Maynard, helped by the fact she
subsequently became an MP in 1974. She was from a rural background. We managed
to see past the Rent (Agricultural) Act 1977 that meant from then on workers in
tied cottages assumed the status of “protected occupants”.
This meant that those in tied cottages had security of
tenure until they were re-housed by the local council.
Like Tony, Barry Leathwood was delighted by the passing of
the 1977 Act, especially “as it was something the NUAW campaigned for over many
decades”.
Leathwood was born on a farm and thrust as a youngster into
helping out his dad, a Cheshire NUAW district official, collect members subs by
cycling round to local farms. Even after he qualified as a mechanical engineer
and became active within the AEU, Barry, with help from his wife Ann, retained
his involvement by assisting NUAW members after his father suffered a heart
attack.
In October 1973 Barry became the NUAW District Officer in
Somerset which had a few large farms that included one large mushroom farm of
1,200 employees. “This meant we could create a traditional bargaining unit of
shop stewards and win wages and conditions way above the norm across the
industry. It was the forerunner to the TGWU and Unite being able to organise within
poultry processing plants”.
Barry was also able to recruit farm workers aware that their
bosses would never give them a pay rise except for the AWB’s existence. “And
they knew too that the NUAW had managed to establish pay increases for craft
workers of 15% plus through the board.
“Later on, when the Tories sought to abolish the board in
the 90s a successful campaign by our members forced them to back down”.
Barry subsequently became lead negotiator at the Forestry
Commission where he came up against a number of managers who were ex-military.
“They sought to treat workers as raw recruits but found themselves on a long
learning curve. We had a lot of good able people as members and achieved decent
pay, welfare and health and safety conditions”.
People’s ban
One highly successful health and safety struggle that won
international support was led by Chris Kaufmann, who worked for the NUAW from
1974 onwards and became Landworker editor in 1980.
Employed in industrial agriculture when it was sprayed on
fields to kill weeds, the herbicide 245-T, which contained dioxin, was known to
be unsafe after it was used by the US military in Vietnam.
“We had many members complaining of the effects of 245-T. We
took up their concerns vigorously and discovered we had support worldwide.
We sought to get the product officially banned. Although we
did not get that agreed by Parliament here or in New Zealand, where the last
factory manufacturing the product was based, the issue had become so toxic that
everyone had stopped buying it. It was a People’s Ban and it became
uneconomic to manufacture”.
Another successful NUAW safety campaign led to it being
compulsory for tractor cabs to contain a heavy bar on the roof to prevent them
tipping over.
“Dozens of workers, including farmers, who initially had a
remit to ignore the new regulations, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of
many of them, owe their lives to the NUAW, who, once again, campaigned for
decades, “ explains Chris who also referenced how the establishment of the
Gangmasters Licensing Authority in 2004 was a body that the NUAW had sought as long ago as the
1930s.
All three men also believe the NUAW was key to keeping alive
rural services by joining with others, including the Women’s Institute, in
defending local bus services, post offices, GP surgeries and village halls.
Landworker magazine gave members a means of highlighting rural issues in
general.
“NUAW activists also got elected to local Parish Councils
where they’d campaign to retain rural schools. They’d try to hold the line,”
states Chris.
“Many NUAW members were brave to stand up for their rights
and those of their fellow workers. They should be remembered,” states Tony
Gould.
By joining in 1983 with the TGWU, NUAW members combined with
TWGU agricultural workers in a new NISC trade group, obtained greater access to
legal support and TGWU sponsored MPs and were able to call on drivers in the
TGWU not to cross picket lines when there was a dispute on.
Today, our ‘rural rebels’ are happy to keep a watching brief and advise the rest of us when asked.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
A plan to revive farming and rural areas that includes making home produced food more affordable.
A plan to revive farming and rural areas that includes
making home produced food more affordable.
Landworker magazine, Spring 2024
.jpg) |
Farming subsidies have been cut by a third by the government since Britain left the EU. Meanwhile, hundreds of farmers have left the land.
But Charlie
Clutterbuck, veteran Unite food activist and campaigner has a plan to revive
farming and rural areas that includes making home produced food more
affordable.
Back in 2017,
175,000 farmers and landowners received £3.5bn in individual payments from the Basic
Payment Scheme of the Common Agricultural Policy. (CAP) It was a figure Boris Johnson
“guaranteed” would be maintained if Britain left Europe. He later changed his
mind when his government announced in July 2020 a complete phaseout of
Basic Farm Payouts by 2027.
Unite’s
Charlie Clutterbuck, a soil scientist and food security expert, was never a big
CAP fan, mainly because big landowners such as the Duke of Westminster were
creaming off large subsidies for themselves.
When he stated
that “they did nothing for this” in Landworker magazine,
the Duke’s farm manager claimed that as he provided jobs everybody should be
pleased. When Charlie offered to debate the issue with the generally very vocal
local hunting, shooting and fishing community there was silence.
UK land
ownership is the most unequal in Europe. Our leaders like that. When the EU planned
to limit CAP to £250,000 annually for any one farmer, Prime Minster David
Cameron was quickly on his way to Brussels to successfully block the limit
being introduced.
So, at the
time of the EU referendum Charlie’s book Bittersweet Brexit: the future of Food,
Farming, Land and Labour put forward an entirely new funding method for
rural areas in which the CAP monies going into the pockets of the already
wealthy would be switched into subsidising 300,000 rural jobs at an annual cost
of £10,000 each.
Before and
after the EU referendum, Michael Gove ran round ‘promising the earth’ to
farmers and many environmental groups were supportive. But like everything Gove
touches there was no real plan and after a few years it was thrown out by the 2019-20
agriculture minister George Eustice.
“All the
‘green’ ideas were complex, especially for small farmers. Even Michael
Heseltine said they were OK for his farms as he had management systems, but
hopeless for small farmers who knew best how to breed cows and sheep. The
government department had a bad track record on paying out BPS – being fined
heavily by EU for incompetence, when all they had to do was count static land.
“Anything
that moved was going to be too complex,” explains Charlie.
The
transition out of CAP between 2021 and 2027 is now taking place under the
Environment Land Management Schemes that are according to DEFRA ‘designed to
contribute to our range of objectives - farming and nature can and must go hand
in hand to support resilient food production and farm businesses and to achieve
our target outcomes for environment and climate.’
ELMS funding is being allocated under three strands: Landscape
Recovery Scheme (LRS), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and the Countryside
Stewardship Plus (CSP) scheme.
Each strand was originally planned to receive £1bn. But ‘the
environment’ means an awful lot of different things.
PM Johnson said in the Commons: “What we are going to do is
use the new freedoms we have after leaving the CAP to support farmers to beautify
the countryside”.
According to Charlie “This view of a romanticised
countryside is nothing new. But it does not improve the sustainability of
present-day UK farming in terms of energy intensive chemical inputs and
dependence on other people’s land and labour.”
To be eligible to claim for the LRS you have to have a spare
1,000 acres (500ha) – basically for re-wilding or carbon trading. Meanwhile,
small farms are only able to directly access the SFI.
Recently released figures reveal that under ELMS in 2022-23
the total sum spent was £2.230 billion.
“This is over a third less than Johnson’s original promise,”
laments Clutterbuck. “Direct payments to 84,000 farmers, including 865 who have
left the industry during the year, are £1.4bn.
“Payments under Environment Land management, including CSP, towards
39,000 farmers total just £572 million. And as this figure also includes SFI
then I can only conclude that this backs up what many farmers have told me that
very few are applying,” explains Clutterbuck, who first appeared in Landworker
in 1977.
“One MP should be
putting down a Commons question to find out exactly where these subsidies are
now going and who is doing well. I predict the winners are not only large
landowners but ‘environmental consultants’, working for ‘the City’ and now
adept with the new language of ‘carbon trading’ and ‘biodiversity net gain’.
Charlie wants the £3.5bn that used to come from CAP to help
address the big food issues of today.
Food banks are at their most numerous, as more people find
themselves in food poverty – a term the government won’t recognise. Over 27% of
people are now obese. Cheap ultra-processed food makes up 57% of the British
diet, more than any other country.
A simple solution
One simple suggestion by the soil scientist is to grow and
eat more home-grown fruit and vegetables. This would revive UK horticulture.
Clutterbuck feels particularly concerned about this, as he was
sponsored by the government’s Fruit Research Station for his Master’s in plant
science. There, the director proclaimed how fruit growing was an emblem of
‘Britishness’ – think of the Vale of Evesham and the Garden of Kent.
“That ideal is being lost to cheap overseas produce. Fruit
growing was never subsidised, but should be.
“We should be having a much broader debate about the role of
UK food and farming and how resilient we are to worldwide events, such as the
conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Red Sea, plus events such as
Brexit.”
Follow the USA
These subsidies could be redirected towards a scheme adopted
by the United States where their Farm Bill pays over $60bn annually to around
40 million poorer people to help them buy healthier food cheaply.
While fiscal conservatives argue against the initiative,
most Republicans and Democrats like it. It helps the Democrats address food
poverty and build local economies, and the Republicans like it because it helps
their farming base with their continuous overproduction problem.
“Such a scheme here could be combined with specific general
projects consisting of renovating social housing and community facilities. People in rural areas would vote for such a
programme,” Clutterbuck concludes.
1.
In writing this article a request was made of Steve
Reed, the shadow rural minister, to comment on Charlie Clutterbuck’s
observations and on whether he would be willing to ask where the subsidies have
gone or are set to go to. Reed did not respond. He is following in a long
tradition of shadow rural ministers who are generally uninterested in the post
and offer nothing to rural communities.
.jpg)
Monday, 22 April 2024
ROADWORTHY
Unpublished article for UniteLandworker magazine of Spring 2024
Senior steward Tommy Hanlon is “proud” of the 350+ industrial road service Unite members he represents at the Northern Ireland (NI) Department for Infrastructure (Infrastructure) who have all combined with 150,00 other public sector workers by striking over pay.
With inflation running high, NI public sector employees have been badly hit.
Between April 2022 and April 2023, real pay (adjusted for inflation) in NI’s public sector dropped by 7.2%. This followed real pay falling by more than 4% between April 2021 and April 2022, which followed two decades of no growth in public sector real pay and during which the Conservative-led austerity programme imposed 1% public sector pay increases from 2010 to 2019.
All of this comes on top of historical differences in public sector pay between NI and the rest of the UK and which are long-running grievances for workers.
In July 2023 millions of public sector workers in England and Wales got pay rises of between 5 and 7 per cent.
Most NI public sector pay decisions are devolved to the power-sharing government at Stormont. Yet with no ministers in place for two years until 1 February 2024 and severe budgetary restrictions imposed by the UK government the situation on when awards for 2023-4 would be made was uncertain.
Little surprise therefore that an estimated 150,000 public sector workers in NI went on strike at different times last year. Then on January 16 20024 there were was joint strike action, the largest in more than half a century, by workers from 16 trade unions.
Tommy Hanlon of Ballywalter, County Down had only once been on strike in his 37 years working for Infrastructure. “It was only one day. This recent action has totalled 21 days. We joined up with, amongst others, workers in fisheries, ports and rivers. At main road sites we made the public aware of our actions by mounting picket lines, which were totally respected. Councillors attended and showed support. I am proud of all our members and I think if we do end up taking more action they will again respond magnificently”.
Action has been taken after a pay award of just £552 (or £571) was imposed last year. “This was with inflation at 10.8 per cent and came after a decade long below inflation increases.
“We want a 10.8% increase plus 5 per cent. We have been offered 10 per cent plus a one off, non-consolidated, payment of £1,500. Mainland UK workers got more than this”.
Industrial Roadworkers, who grit roads and reconstruct broken kerbs and pot holes and maintain grass verges, are amongst the lowest paid civil servants earning £10.80 an hour. Their strike action has left many roads in a poor condition. Private companies brought into repair the damage made great profits.
With the power-sharing administration having recently been restored at Stormont the Tories have made available £668m for NI public sector pay in 2023-24. The figure falls short of the figures departments have calculated is needed across the public sector.
“We are not recommending acceptance in our forthcoming ballot of the proposals. That is despite it being our biggest pay offer for the last 20 years. We want inflation going back to 2022 plus 5 per cent– around 15.8”.
Ice cream workers can’t be licked
Ice cream workers can’t be licked
Unpublished article for UniteLandworker magazine of Spring 2024
An 8.8 per cent rise from August last year with another 5 per cent to come this August has been scooped by ice cream workers at LE Pritchitts, near Newtownards in Northern Ireland. It follows a week-long strike in February.
It’s a long way from the initial 4.48% offer skilled machine operators who also manufacture UHT milk-based products were asked to stomach from the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lakeland District Co-op, which on the back of a 40% leap in revenue had seen its profits increase by 63%.
Gary Hamilton has worked for the company, formed in 1925, for 31 years. Four years ago, he became the senior steward which includes negotiating wages. “We were offered a 4.48% offer at the start and which is nowhere near enough to feed our families. This was increased to 6.2%, then 8% and then 8.8%. It left a bitter taste.
“We work hard. It is a multi-million-pound environment operated by process workers, lab technicians and mechanical engineers. Inflation has cut heavily into our wages. We need 9% to maintain the differentials on the national hourly minimum wage. The company, which made a profit of £2.21 million in 2022, could afford our claim. Especially as they have got a £500 million contract for whipping cream from China.”
It meant 120+ Unite members felt they had no option except to walk out of the factory. “When we balloted, we got unanimous backing from all 124 members. Only a young apprentice did not take strike action,” Gary states proudly.
The strike at the end of February was the first at the factory, which employs on a shift system around 200 people, many from rural locations, in 44 years.
Picket lines were mounted continuously. Unite regional officer Albert Hewitt, who in the past was a steward for 18 years at Translink, attended regularly witnessing “a very high morale with local bakeries and wee shops providing sausage rolls and pasties. Pritchitts workers were standing by their principles and Unite could assist because of the hardship funds we have built up over many years.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham was naturally backing the strikers stating: “Unite does what it says on the trade union tin and always prioritises the jobs, pay and conditions of its members. The workers at Pritchitts will receive the union’s unfettered support.”
That would, if necessary, have included backing for further industrial action.
“ We are really pleased with the outcome, from 4.48% for a one year deal up to 8.8% and now an additional 5 per cent in four months is in our favour. The teamwork and selflessness on the picket line brought everyone together.
“The solidarity of sticking together as Unite members is what has won us this deal,” states Gary Hamilton whose members are also set to reward the local businesses who supported them with increased custom for many years.
SIX PER CENT RISE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
SIX PER CENT RISE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
UNITElandworker of Spring 2024
.jpg)
Northern Ireland Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) has agreed a
6 per cent increase for all grades of agricultural workers for 2024-25. This
was successfully negotiated by the Unite team of six board members and follows
an award of 8.5 per cent in 2023-24. The increase will affect the 11,300 plus
workers covered by the AWB.
UFU negotiators shocked the meeting when in response to a
submission led Keith Reynolds, Unite’s senior rep in the Northern
Ireland civil service, for a cost-of-living increase of 11.7% they proposed
nothing for an award that begins on 1 April. And no, they weren’t joking!
“They always plead that they have no money. You’d think they
farmed just for something to do,” explains Keith who before asking the
independent chair to join the negotiations highlighted that the Total Income
from Farming in Northern Ireland increased by a significant 17.4% in 2022.
Direct farm subsidies had increased by 5.8% to £304.3
million. Across the EU there are plans to link these subsidies to compliance
with labour rights and farm workers working conditions. Unite believes the same
principle should apply across the UK.
As Keith explained to the chairperson a 4% offer was
proposed by the UFU, many of whose members in a tightening labour market that
is brought on by low pay are spending thousands of pounds advertising for staff,
which could, of course, be used to boost
wages.
The offer facilitated the meeting resuming with Unite looking
to negotiate a 9.7% increase, equal to that awarded by the UK government for
the National Minimum Wage. The UFU then proposed a ‘take it or leave it’ rise
of 5%, contending that the rise in 2022-23 had been viewed by their members as
over generous. The AWB chair was again forced to intervene and imposed a 6%
deal.
“The increase will aid all farmworkers who undertake arduous
manual work looking after cattle, picking fruit and harvesting crops,” explains
Keith “Many are migrant workers, know little about their rights, work in remote
locations, face a language barrier and thus struggle to be able to stand up to
their employers.
“We’d hoped for
better and we will be seeking to start clearing the differential between wage
increases and inflation in the next few years. Before then we are confident of
winning an improved agreement bereavement similar to that established by
Unite in Scotland. This will allow
migrant workers to get home following the sudden death of a close relative.
“The AWB is essential as it forces the employers into
increasing wages annually. It holds farmers to account publicly”.
Sunday, 21 April 2024
Union busting tactics fail at Derry factory
Unpublished article for uniteLandworker magazine of Spring 2024
Thanks to UNITE, American computer storage company Seagate
has failed to keep secret the benefits of trade unionism from its Derry factory
employees. This is despite employing a union buster who has previously helped
notorious anti-union company Amazon prevent union recognition in its US
warehouses.
Workers at the Seagate tech business can now look forward to
being represented by Unite and electing workplace representatives to meet with
management and improve workplace terms and conditions.
The Springtown factory produces a tiny specialised part for
hard drives called a recording head.
In a region where small to medium enterprises and the low
paid agrifood sector dominate employment opportunities, Seagate Technology is one
of the biggest employers in north west Ireland. It employs around 1,600, around
half on the manufacturing process, many of whom travel long distances from
rural locations.
When the Derry site was opened in 1993 by Seagate, which in
2011 swapped its place of incorporation from the Cayman Islands to Dublin to
take advantage of Ireland’s low corporate tax rate of 12.5%, it was known, like
many similar green field locations across Ireland, as a non-union location.
Only around 40 individual workers had joined Unite.
“We began a membership drive in October 2022. It was done
secretly as possible. We talked off site to potential members and provided them
with relevant information through newsletters about the benefits of being Unite
members. Management found but we were by then speaking to workers as they entered
and left work,” explains Unite organiser Lynn McKinty.
The enthusiasm meant that membership figures soon exceeded
500 amongst the manufacturing workers. “It was a massive show of strength,” and
“so we approached the company for a voluntary recognition agreement to allowed
bargaining for these workers. We were not surprised that Seagate, like other companies,
responded negatively,” says Lynn. Unite thus applied to the Industrial Court
for statutory recognition.
Unite held a ballot in January 2023 and 540 members – 93% of
whom voted - gave the thumbs up for a union recognition deal with their
employer who openly made clear their opposition with numerous anti-union
leaflets, some posted to people’s homes, compulsory individual and mass meetings
with managers speaking negatively about Unite. Seagate also employed two union
busters who provided training for managers on how to deliver an anti-union
message.
One of these was Bradley Moss, a consultant on union-avoidance,
He had secretly worked for $375 an hour in two US Amazon warehouses in 2022
seeking, successfully, to convince 12,000 workers to vote against
unionising.
Having demonstrated they had over 50% union membership in
their bargaining unit at Seagate - where workers, after working throughout
COVID, were refused a cost-of-living payment increase by a company that had
made record profits - Unite succeeded at the Industrial Court for statutory
recognition and finally won after Seagate lost an appeal for a judicial review in
the High Court of Justice.
“It is massive for Seagate workers and Unite regionally. The
company has till to 19 March to decide on how to bring both parties together.
If necessary, the court will impose what the bargaining agreement will consist
of. “
“We are looking at organising the 250 engineers and tech
guys as they also want a collective bargaining agreement.”
The oldest football match in the world: Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Unpublished 2023 article for Landworker Unite magazine Spring 2023
Football has
changed vastly since medieval times when games featured hundreds of players on
fields spanning miles – but not everywhere. Football historian Mark Metcalf
provides a history lesson from Ashbourne in Derbyshire.
Out of the
chaos and pandemonium of multitudinous scrambles for the ball, football has
shaped itself through the centuries and become a regulated sport with
internationally recognised rules. But the spectacularly chaotic affairs from
the past do live on in rare places that were prepared to defy laws brought in
at the start of the industrial revolution.
One such
place is Ashbourne in Derbyshire where every year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash
Wednesday the Royal Shrovetime Football match, which takes place over two
eight-hour periods, involves every able-bodied man in the town who wants to
join in. The result is a rough and slightly madcap event where the ball is
frequently missing in a mass of sweating bodies.
Pre-match
sees the shops boarded up, on the day the pub cellars are overflowing with
barrels of beer, and the players get stuck into a gruelling two days of battle.
In Ashbourne
a person’s team depends which side they are born of Henmore Brook – a tributary
of the River Dove, which flows through the middle of the market town on the
southern edge of the Peak District.
The
Down’Ards try to goal the ball at the old Clifton Mill and their opponents try
to score at the old Sturston Mill. The distance between the goals is around
three miles.
The historic
game this year started just after 2pm on Tuesday February 21st, when the day's
turner-up, farming stalwart Paul Cook, threw his ball high into the crowd, with
around 5,000 people expected to get involved. That’s over half of the 9,163 people
that populate the town.
All photographs are copyright Mark Harvey ⓒ
2022 had
resulted in a remarkable four goals being scored over the two days with the
Up’ards scoring three and the Down’ards just once. No side though is declared
the winner as it’s more about the individual achievements of each goal.
In 1987, locally
born Jonathan Dodd equalised for the Up’Ards when “Eight or
9 of us ran away with the ball late on over many miles and I got in and scored.
I was the first to score in the river. I return from Eyam each year as it is in
your blood. I enjoy it and when you see one of your mates score it’s great.
Excitement keeps you moving for the 2 days. If you get tired you just keep
going.” Dodd’s achievements then and since make him a local legend.
On the first
day of the game this year the ball remained in the car park for a long time
before it broke out, at one point entering the water and getting stuck again
such that the game remained goalless with the ball not being goaled at either end.
The match
dates back to at least 1667 but, because a fire destroyed the earliest
records, its exact origins are unknown. This has parallels with the history of
football more broadly in this country. Ancient historians were much more
interested in revolutionary deeds and the dominant figures of kings and queens
than the pastimes of common people, which they deemed unworthy of mention,
so there is no certain record of when football was first played. It was instead
left to modern writers to seek out minute references to football in order to
piece together the history of the game that is now the most popular sport in
the world.
There is no
proof, for example, that football began in Chester during the Saxon period when
locals gleefully kicked the severed heads of conquered Danes through the
streets, but the ninth century Welsh monk and historian Nennius does make
reference to a field, in the district of Glevesing, “where a party of boys were
playing at ball”.
The earliest
recorded Shrovetide game came after the Saxon period had ended and the Norman
occupation was over a century old. Cleric William Fitzstephen, in 1175, noted
that after dinner on Shrove Tuesday, “all the young men of the town go out into
the [London] elds in the suburbs to play ball”. It is clear that this annual
event had been going on for at least a generation and that the match took place
on open fields and in rivers with the goals many miles apart.
Most people at
Ashbourne were there to watch and cheer. It is difficult to calculate how many
were playing for the Down’Ards – born on the south side of Henmore Brook, or
the Up’Ards – born north side, but there were at least 400-500 players apiece.
The figure doesn’t include the youngsters, whose schools are closed for the
occasion and who try to get as close to the action as they can on the rare
chance that the ball might miraculously come their way. It is a rite of
passage.
One of those
watching on was a highly familiar Unite member in Colin Hampton, whose heroic
work over the decades has helped thousands who’ve visited the Chesterfield based
Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre.
“I have got
a week off and chosen to come and bring friends on both days to the match. I’ve
attended for the last 15 years. It is something to behold that a ball
gets thrown up in the middle of a town in medieval style.
“You get an impression of what life was like and this
sort of game took place in a lot of towns all over the country including in
Derby where it was banned in the 19th century. It’s thought that the
term local derby comes from the ancient game in Derby.
“I know locals take it very seriously and you see people
in track suits, who look like they’ve been keeping fit, on the fringes of the
fight for the ball ready to receive it and run off as quickly as possible.”
Also watching from a safe distance and enjoying some
food and a beer and fresh air was Micola Ferrer and his son Luke who is
wheelchair bound. “One year we had found what we thought was a safe spot by a
big gate post. Then 4 big lads turned up and said we could not stay there as we
would be killed and they all picked Luke up in his wheelchair up and took us
40-50 yards away.
“Half an hour later the post was flattened by the
crowd as they wrestled for the ball,” laughs Micola who works in a kitchen.
It may be that amongst the crowd at the time was a
long-time player at the game. Jack Godfrey from Derby, who for over a decade
has made the short trip north with his Ashbourne born mum, Janet, who believes she
was there when her mam was pregnant with her.
“I am just happy to get stuck in,” said Jack, “I was
brought up round here although as I am not from Ashbourne, I won’t ever score a
goal. I get by over the 16 hours on adrenalin. Like everyone I know it is a
medieval tradition dating back 900 years.”
The
tradition persists became locals fought for their rights. In 1860 a group of
Ashbourne locals were convicted for “riotous assembly” for playing
football on Shrove Tuesday, but the inhabitants of the town still reassembled
for the event 12 months later and it has continued ever since. The game
received royal approval in 1928 when the Prince of Wales – later King Edward
VIII – started the match by dropping the ball into the crowd of eager
footballers from a stone plinth in a field – now the town’s main car park.
It was a
feat considering the long history of attempts by the authorities to suppress
the ‘beautiful game’. In 1314 Edward II forbade football altogether due to “the
evil that might arise through many people hustling together”. Edward was
concerned that young men were more interested in chasing a ball made from a
pig’s bladder than practicing archery in preparation for war. It was a theme
that Rudyard Kipling returned to when he attacked the “muddied oafs” in his
Boer War poem The Islanders in 1902.
In 1389
Richard II passed another Act forbidding football and these were later
re-enforced by Henry IV and Henry VIII.
In Scotland,
James III tried to banish the game, ordering it in 1458 to be “utterly put
down”. In 1579 John Wonkell, of Durham County, was imprisoned for a week for
playing football on a Sunday. Four years later the end of the world was
predicted because football was being played on the Sabbath and was, according
to authors Alfred Gibson and William Pickford, “causing necks, legs, backs and
arms to be broken, eyes to start out, and noses to gush out with blood”.
The
Puritans, a group of reformed Protestants, always viewed the game with great
hostility, but Oliver Cromwell was a revolutionary who not only toppled
the king and paved the way for parliamentary democracy – he also enjoyed
football.
The game
became even more popular after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 and the
violence was renewed with additional vigour. Mass games were held regularly and
in numerous locations but there were soon attempts to introduce rules,
demanding an equal number of players on each side.
In 1829 the
Metropolitan Police Act heralded the advent of modern policing and in 1835
Parliament banned football on the highways. The annual ritual football matches
were successfully suppressed by the authorities, often by violent methods. In
Dorking a determined effort by Surrey County Council ended a custom that was
centuries old when they drafted in 100 police constables who, when the first
ball was started by a notable townsman, made strenuous efforts to obtain
possession. The game and the attempt of the police to prevent it went on for
several hours with the large watching crowd jeering the police. Towards the end
of the game a fight broke out, between some of the players and the crowd
against the police, and there were injuries on both sides. Fifty Dorking
townspeople were subsequently fined one shilling (5p) each for obstructing the
highway, with the magistrate saying the match was “a danger to life”.
This
historical event has yet to return to Dorking, and while the one at
Ashbourne survives, and another in Workington which also takes place
around Easter, most similar events elsewhere have ended. Instead, anyone
interested in football must now turn their attentions to the innumerable clubs
that have been established since Sheffield FC became the first official English
(Hope Football Club was formed in Edinburgh in 1824 and lasted till 1841) club
in 1857.
Sheffield
has a strong claim to be the home of modern football as the city also played a
major role in developing the rules that have made it possible for teams to face
each other on a common front.
Monday, 15 April 2024
THE LIFE OF SALINAS’ LATIN AMERICAN PICKERS
uniteLandworker article Spring 2024
THE LIFE OF
SALINAS’ LATIN AMERICAN PICKERS
Mi papa es un agricola, My Father, the Farmworker, by J
Ramon Perez, published by Lil Libros. (RRP £16.99)
This beautifully illustrated young children’s book, written
in Spanish and English, illuminates and pays tribute to the Latin American
agricultural wage labourers and small landowners in the USA.
J. Roman Perez’s Mexican father was a member of this
rural working class in the fields surrounding the city of Salinas, California,
better known as the ‘Salad Bowl of the World.’
As a youngster the author combined working alongside his
father picking crops whilst studying hard in school to bolster his future
opportunities. He is thankful that working under the sun and rain made him
understand what his parents had to experience to provide a better life.
By combining with
artist Jose Ramirez then Perez has done a fine job of bringing alive in
such a colourful, simple and loving fashion the life story of his father and
millions like him across the globe who harvest natures gifts of fruits and
vegetables.
Children and adults are in for an educational treat as the
book highlights how these essential food producers work from dawn to dusk,
rising as the sun breaks through before grabbing a cup of coffee whilst his
wife prepares food for the whole family.
Driving to work he then walks thousands of steps on ‘Mother
Earth’ before working tirelessly with his hands and back in the fields,
planting, harvesting and tending to crops which once ready for market are
packed and hoisted on shoulders to be packed on to trucks.
Rain washes away the sweat of the hot sun and as day turns
to night the cold sky turns hands numb and with each breath small clouds form.
Cold hands crack. Eyes become covered with salt before the emerging darkness
brings the relief of the end of an exhausting day and a drive home under the
Moon.
If there is defeat in the eyes as he arrives home then it
must be controlled amidst the dreams of a rosier future for his children who
are seen with his wife reading together and enjoying each other’s company.
Of course, for this future to become a reality for all Latin
American agricultural wage labourers and small landowners in the USA and
elsewhere then much work has still to be done.
Yet, by highlighting the problems then Perez and Ramirez
have done a great job in allowing children and their parents to more easily understand
and show solidarity with a much unappreciated group of workers.
Stop press – praise from pupils and teachers
A friend of mine who is a teaching assistant took the book into her school. She did so anonymously but got the following quotes.
Year 2 pupil: “The pictures are really powerful and you can tell how the people are feeling.”
She especially liked the picture of the rain washing the
farm labourers sweat away. “I can really imagine it raining there and the
farmer might be happy to be cooled down while they’re working.”
A key stage 2 pupil said: “the descriptions are really clear
and help you understand the lives of the characters.”
A teacher said: “the book is extremely accessible for young
children. The images are vivid and attention-catching, which would help engage
pupils. The text is also simple enough to be understood by a range of children
but also layers of meaning that could be unpacked in a lesson. Because it’s
multilingual it could also be used as a resource to teach languages with some
older primary pupils.”
SOLIDARITY CALL Support International Peasants’ Day – April 17
UniteLANDWORKER
Spring 2024
SOLIDARITY CALL
Support
International Peasants’ Day – April 17
The International Day of Peasants’ and Farmers’
Struggles on April 17th helps celebrate one of
the largest but least recognised groups in the world, who grow most of the food
we eat.
Backed by organisations such as War on Want, the date
marks the massacre of 19 landless peasants, organised in the Movement
of Landless Rural Workers, at
Eldorado do Carjas by Brazilian police, two of whom were later jailed in 1996.
La Via Campesina,
the international farmers movement was created in 1993, uniting at global
level national organisations and unions active for years in their own country
or region.
“This has only been made possible because the global peasant
movement has strengthened and given visibility to the rights of workers in the
food and agriculture sector,” explains Sabrina Espeleta, War on Want.
(WoW) “The movement has managed to include the rights to land and food
sovereignty at the international level for the first time with UNDROP, which is
the first declaration of its kind that has been written by peasants, for
peasants.”
This spring five independent experts will become
responsible for promoting and implementing the Declaration.
“The creation of a Working Group by the UN Human
Rights Council dedicated exclusively to the rights of peasants and people
working in rural areas is an important milestone,” says Espeleta “but as our 2023 report ‘Profiting from Hunger’ shows,
challenges persist in implementing UNDROP at the national level, as it is not
legally binding.
“The Working Group
will help identify best practices and advise states about the implementation of
their human rights obligations, with a focus on peasants and other rural
people. It should also respond to key discussions from a peasants’ perspective
on important issues such as a just transition in agri-food systems. However,
their work may face resistance due to the lobbying power of corporations and
their control in global food supply chains, where profits come before human
rights.”
Which makes it
important that workers in general back events on April 17th.
“Corporate control
over global food systems continues to grow, and as the multiple crises of
inequality, malnutrition and climate worsen, peasants and rural workers are
facing injustice from the erosion of their rights and corporate land grabs, to
low wages and unfair competition.
“It’s essential to
celebrate International Peasants Day to draw attention to these challenges and
show solidarity with the international peasants’ movement,” explains Espelata.
War on Want’s
report, ‘Profiting from Hunger: Popular Resistance to Corporate Food Systems’,
was published in 2023: https://waronwant.org/resources/profiting-hunger
More about War on
Want’s work on food sovereignty: ‘Our Work: Food’, War on Want: https://waronwant.org/our-work/food
https://viacampesina.org/en/who-are-we/ To subscribe to their newsletter go to:- https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en
Blackwell miners and footballers who played for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday to be honoured this Wednesday
Blackwell
miners and footballers who played for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday
to be honoured this Wednesday
Don’t worry if you hear a loud voice echoing round
Blackwell Colliery streets this Wednesday morning from 11am onwards. It will be
town crier David Purdy calling residents to a special ceremony that begins at
the pit wheel monument at 1pm before moving to the community hall at 2pm.
Three plaques are to be unveiled on the afternoon of
the 17th.
The first at the pit wheel will honour all 71 colliers
who lost their lives at the colliery until its closure in 1969 and will name
the seven men,
some descendants of whom
will be present, who died in a mining accident on November 11 1895.
The two plaques
that will be unveiled at Blackwell Community Hall will be dedicated to two
footballers who worked at the mine and kicked off their playing careers for
Blackwell Miners Colliery Welfare FC.
Billy
‘Fatty’ Foulke (1874-1916) and Willie Layton (1875-1944) would subsequently play
for Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday respectively, where both men went on
to win England's old First Division and the FA Cup. Foulke, who also
represented Derbyshire at County Cricket, played for England and Layton for the
English Football League.
Amongst those
who will be making short speeches prior to the unveilings are Bolsover Council
Leader and former miner Steve Fritchley, Richard Foulke, John
Garrett of Sheffield United, comedian Ross Brierley and former Manchester
United director Michael Knighton, great grandson of Layton. Parish councillors Tony
Gascoyne and Ian Newham will be saying a few words.
There will a display of residents’ art work centered
on Foulke and Layton in the community hall following the unveilings. The ongoing
work to record residents’ sporting memories will also be continuing, there will
also be other displays and the world record 9th wicket cricketing stand
that was achieved at Blackwell in 1910 by Warren and Chapman of Derbyshire will be recalled.
If you want to find out more about the footballers then
take a look at these 2 short films: -
Layton: https://youtu.be/1k1fcY5vtPo
Foulke https://youtu.be/zei3KpirqW0
For more details contact Mark Metcalf 07392 852561 and
metcalfmc@outlook.com