SPLIT PERSONALITY - Penrhyn Slate Quarry

SPLIT PERSONALITY

From Big Issue in the North magazine, December 3-8th 2013. 

From a great hole in a Welsh mountain, slate has been quarried for two thousand years and is prized because it splits cleanly. Only a handful of quarries remain today but, as Mark Metcalf finds, those in the trade are determined to maintain a proud, ancient tradition.

Ever since Roman times there has been slate quarrying in north west Wales but the techniques used to extract it then are different from the ones used today.

Then the slate was used for a weathertight roof on a fort built just outside Caernarfon. By the 19th century the industry dominated the region. Working conditions though remain difficult and there is a constant geological battle to ensure there is a safe working environment in which to remove a metamorphic rock valued for its splitting characteristic. The word slate is derived from the French verb esclater, meaning “to split”, and the rock’s final splitting is still completed manually by workers.

Penrhyn Slate Quarry outside the small village of Bethesda in North Wales was first developed commercially in the 1770s. It went on to become the world’s largest slate quarry at the end of the 19th century century. Larger quarries now exist in Spain, China and the US, but Penrhyn remains Britain’s biggest.

The company Welsh Slate, which also includes smaller quarries locally, manufactures on site each week around 125,000 roofing slates, as well as decorative aggregates for paths and gardens. This provides jobs for around 100 people during processing and 20-plus in the actual quarry itself.

The quarry is a great hole in the mountain and its black sides contrast greatly with the grandeur of the surrounding mountains. The main working pit is 1.6km long and 150 metres deep.
There are 15 metre benches or terraces on open galleries on each mountainside.

The slate itself starts 60 metres below ground. Removing the overburden – or waste – is an ongoing process and in the last year contractors have stripped two million tonnes in order to widen the quarry and free up more slate. The colour of the slate is dependent on the chemical composition of the mudstone, which was deposited at Penrhyn around 500 million years ago. Most slates from Penrhyn are heather blue in appearance.

Extracting the slate involves taking advantage of the natural weaknesses in the rock through planes and joints to take out large blocks. According to Dafydd Williams, the quarry manager at Penrhyn for seven years, the perfect size block is 10 metres by 10 metres.

Since Irish businessman Kevin Lagan purchased the quarry six years ago there has been significant investment. This has included a new machine in which wire impregnated with diamonds is used in cheese wire fashion after probes have been employed to link the vertical and horizontal cuts.

Although explosives are then employed to bring down the loosened rock the process has lessened the danger of falls as the quantity of shot used is considerably less than before. Nevertheless in the last few years there have been two major rock falls in the quarry, including one of six million tonnes. Fortunately, both falls were at night and no one was injured.

Williams says: “The skill is to understand the geology of the quarry. It could be very dangerous as the cleavage of the slate is vertical but you’ve got sub-joints that are parallel.

“If you don’t understand those joints, and recognise that by moving one block, it will impact on those near to it then you could have problems.”

Williams’ target is 3,000 tonnes of productive slate a week from the quarry. Huge loaders and massive Volvo trucks are used to carry giant blocks of stone to the processing plant. En route the drivers pass two zip wires specially constructed in a disused area of the quarry. Zip World opened earlier this year and visitors pay £50 to reach speeds of up to 100mph. The company rents the space from Welsh Slate and the entry fee also includes a brief quarry tour.

Once the slate blocks reach the processing plant a hydraulic splitter is employed to split the slate to a size that can be sawn. When production manager Andy Smith started work at Penrhyn 30 years ago this breaking down of the stone was done manually with a sledgehammer and chisel. It was back-breaking work.

Fork-lift trucks transport the smaller blocks to the sawmill, where four saws reduce further the size of the stone to various sizes, of which the most popular among customers is 20 by 10 inches. This is known as the Countess, with different sizes of slate all named after female aristocratic titles.

The remaining stone is deposited with the splitters, whose job it is to determine the thickness of the finished slate. This depends on the quality of the slate as well as the skill and experience of the worker.

Wayne Eccles started work on a training scheme in the early 1990s and was given 32 weeks training in splitting. He says: “The skill is in the eye as you always split slate in half. Some people use their thumb to decide on what thickness the slate will be.”

The splitters are the only employees whose contracts include bonus payments – which can vary from £50 to £150 a week – and they make more if they can create roofing slates that are thin rather than thick. As we are talking millimetres in difference then that is no easy task.

Eccles followed his father into the quarry industry and so did Neil Roberts, whose link to quarrying goes back six generations to 1823. He is aware of the strike that ran for three years starting in 1900 and like the majority of workers is a member of the trade union Unite.

Industrial relations at the quarry today are, says Roberts, “pretty good as we need to keep the quarry open as without it there would be few local jobs and Bethesda would struggle to survive”. A large local employer has recently closed and across Wales the jobless rate is 8.2 per cent, higher than England.

The completed slates are checked and packed before being supplied to restoration, repair or new-build projects in the public, commercial and residential building sectors. Architects and building contractors often specify they want slate as it has a reputation for style and longevity. Welsh Slate offers 100-year guarantees.

The Fountain in Exchange Square in Manchester was constructed with slate boulders from Bethesda. The Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff used slate walling, paving and flooring from the Penrhyn quarry. All of which gives a special pride to the workers. “It is nice to see something that I have done that is going to last a long time,” says quarry operative Carwyn Jones.

Charlie Hurley's international debut in 1957 against England

Debuting for Ireland against England

The following is an edited version from the authorised biography of CHARLIE HURLEY: “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen”. Written by Mark Metcalf the book was published by Sportsbooks in 2008. It is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and in Waterstones in the city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo dated 1 December 2013.

Charlie stands fifth from the left prior to his impressive debut 

Hurley never faced Greaves at international level. The Irishman, playing at the time for Millwall, made his international debut for Ireland against England in May 1957. Eleven days earlier when the sides had met at Wembley the home side had romped home 5-1 and Manchester United’s Tommy Taylor, against whom Hurley would be in direct opposition at Dalymount Park, had scored three times.

‘By far the largest crowd ever to assemble at Dalymount Park saw the Republic of Ireland start in thrilling fashion when, following a flowing move involving Arthur Fitzsimmons, Liam Whelan and Joe Haverty, Alf Ringstead of Sheffield United was able to knock the ball into the empty net from a few yards out.

England, whose only change from the first game was David Pegg, later to die in the Munich air tragedy, for Stanley Matthews, were stung and Godwin was forced to make brave diving saves at the feet of Atyeo and Taylor.

An anxious Charlie watches on as Ireland keeper Tommy Godwin
grabs the ball 

Ireland hung on to their lead. Those present knew that if they could hold on then a victory in the next game in Denmark would mean that England and Ireland would be forced to play a third time. The winner would take their place at Sweden in the following summer’s World Cup tournament.

PNE’s brilliant winger Tom Finney had other ideas - perhaps he didn’t fancy another game against Ireland.

 “I remember it well. In the ninety-first minute Tom Finney’s gone down the right, beat Pat Saward, beat Noel Cantwell, crossed the ball. John Atyeo was behind me. I’m watching Tommy, the header went bum, bum, bum, just trickled into the net. After the match the referee revealed that he had added 1¾ minutes for stoppages,” says Hurley.

Hardly a sound could be heard in the ground, save, of course, the England players who realised that they had qualified for the World Cup.

The referee’s actions were very unusual for the time, most games ending within seconds of the 90 minutes. The Daily Mirror headline summed it up with its “Referee’s watch gives England a passport to World Cup Finals – SAVED IN EXTRA TIME SENSATION as the luck of the Irish was right out”.

After the match Hurley’s performance was lavishly praised, with the Daily Mirror’s report stating “….it was the Irish who produced a new great world-class footballer in centrehalf Charlie Hurley. Half the clubs in the First Division will soon be knocking on Millwall's door offering £25,000 for him.’

Hurley recalls, “People say that Eire only had a good team under Jackie Charlton. I am not so sure; we had a very good team. For the match at Dalymount Park it was packed; they were sitting on the track round the pitch.  I did OK, it was very early days for me - my very first cap. But it wasn’t good enough for the press. How did they find this big young Irishman with a Cockney voice the star of the show? It set me up for 40 caps, if it had been now I’d have had eighty  as I played for over 12 years.

The match was an insight for me into the best. Tommy Taylor played for Manchester United. Tom Finney? I’d say Tom Finney was one of the greatest players ever; he was just slightly before my day. I thought after the match, ‘Well it’s not beyond you, son’. As my father said, ‘Always aim for the stars and if you drop down to the moon then you’re not doing too badly’; a great philosophy for a guy that liked his pint.

“The game proved something for myself. I always thought I could be good enough but there was nothing like being tested to the full by England! My father went over by boat.  He would have rowed over if he’d had to He told me that for two weeks he never had to do any work at Fords. All his mates did his work; all they wanted to do was to hear about what Charlie had done against England, and from my dad’s angle it was fantastic. I let him have the cap. He took it in, and he really did believe that at the end of that fortnight that he’d played and not me!”

Charlie leads Sunderland out prior to the fifth round FA Cup match in 1964
at home to League Champions Everton in which he scored in a
3-1 win.

Charlie Hurley versus Jimmy Greaves? Who won……...

Charlie Hurley versus Jimmy Greaves? Who won………

The following is an edited version from the authorised biography of CHARLIE HURLEY: “The Greatest Centre Half the World has Ever Seen”. Written by Mark Metcalf the book was published by Sportsbooks in 2008. It is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and in Waterstones in the city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo dated 1 December 2013.

Charlie Hurley was in his final season when Sunderland played away to Tottenham Hotspur in November 1968. He was up against the greatest ever English goalscorer, Jimmy Greaves, who is the only player to have finished as top scorer in the League on six occasions, twice with Chelsea and four times with Spurs.

Greaves “scored four as Sunderland were well beaten by five goals to one. An injury to Martin Harvey on 73 minutes when the score was only 2-1 was the key to such a heavy defeat.  This took Greaves record to ten goals in nine games in matches against Sunderland since 1964. However a little look behind the figures shows that until that November 1968 day Greaves didn’t do that well when Hurley played for Sunderland.

Hurley had previously faced Greaves just three times before then and he’d scored just the once.  In the other five games when Hurley was missing through injury Greaves had scored five times. In 1968 Hurley was coming to end of his top flight career and Greaves exploited his increasing lack of pace including scoring a goal that for many years was endlessly shown on TV replays, running through from the half-way line to take the ball round Montgomery and finish in fine style. Hurley had the satisfaction of playing Greaves just once more, at Roker Park in February 1969 and he again failed to score – it was some record to prevent a genius like Greaves from scoring in 3 out of the 5 games you’d faced him at centre-half.

Hurley has no doubt that “the best sniffer ever was Jimmy Greaves, better than Denis Law. I did well against Greaves, mind. He played at Roker Park one time and we won 3-2 and he scored two that were both disallowed for offside, and I said to him afterwards ‘Tough luck there Jim’ and he said ‘Charlie boy if I’d been at home I’d have got them both’. What a good player, great touch and a decent bloke as well.  Law, he must have scored half his goals from within 6 yards, he poked his goals in, no runs and dribbles, and he was brave mind around the box.”  

Did Shack cost Sunderland a seventh title in 1954-55?

The following edited extract is taken from Stan Anderson’s autobiography CAPTAIN OF THE NORTH. This was co-written by me and published by SPORTSBOOKS in 2010. The book is on sale in the Sunderland club shop and Waterstones in Sunderland city centre. This article appeared in the Sunderland Sports Echo of 1 December 2013. 

Chelsea travel to the Stadium of Light in midweek. Despite the Pensioners recent successes in the Premier League they have yet to match Sunderland’s record of six top-flight titles. According to Stan Anderson that really should have been seven but Sunderland’s players were so obsessed with making it to the 1955 FA Cup final that they relaxed in the League and allowed Chelsea to capture the First Division trophy for the first time.

Stan Anderson 

Anderson largely blames one of his favourite all time-players, Len Shackleton, for what happened. The former Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough captain points out in Shackleton’s defence that his attitude was in response to the low wages players were then paid and which led to some of them rarely giving 100% in order to ensure they prolonged their careers for as long as possible.

Having beaten Burnley and PNE in rounds three and four of the FA Cup, Sunderland were drawn to play away to Swansea Town in round five. Sunderland were just off top spot in the League.

Anderson: ‘Len made it clear that he supported the view that the double wasn’t possible; that you couldn’t win the League and the Cup in the same season. It was true that no club had managed it in the twentieth century but perhaps because I was only twenty in 1955, I felt it could be done. Spurs showed I was right when they won both in 1961. But Len was adamant, and because he was right on so many other issues (such as low pay and a system that tied players to clubs) the players listened to him and I am convinced had an affect on them……...

’I’d have been happy to won either competition, of course, but Len would say, ‘Let’s get to Wembley and win the FA Cup, it will be fantastic.’ He didn’t say ‘Let’s lose the league,’ but the implication was pretty clear and we did lose it by putting in some terrible performances between the fifth-round draw and our semi-final knockout……we didn’t even make it to Wembley’.

‘The week before we faced Swansea we faced Charlton Athletic at home. We had beaten them easily away, 3-1, in September although they were now in third, one place below us. But we were unbeaten in fourteen home games. We attacked most of the match, but in truth rarely threatened Charlton’s famous ‘keeper Sam Bartram: the match finished 2-1 to Charlton and I missed a penalty at 1-0.

These days reporters would say the performance lacked enthusiasm’.

After beating Swansea, Sunderland played Newcastle away and beat a side that was out of contention in the title race. In the following game, Sunderland lost 3-0 at Bolton.

Stan Anderson – “I still have a newspaper cutting for that match, which reads ‘Sunderland, moving at only half speed…..never had a chance of replacing Wolves at the top of the table…Shackleton must shoulder a lot of the blame. He was slow, played far too much behind his colleagues and rarely went into a tackle’.

Sunderland beat Wolves in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Two days later they faced a struggling Sheffield United side at Bramall Lane. Victory would have taken the visitors to the top of the league with Wolves. They lost 1-0

The Journal reported: ‘Perhaps it was the reaction following the previous cup tie but the weakened Sunderland side rarely showed any urgency’.

At home to another struggling side, Arsenal, Sunderland lost 1-0. Stan Anderson: “We weren’t good enough and it was one of the most disappointing results I experienced”.

The following weekend saw Sunderland knocked out of the FA Cup when, in a game that should never have been played on a pitch little better than a mud bath, Manchester City won 1-0 at Villa Park to set up a Wembley date with Newcastle United.

Stan Anderson: “It was a very quiet dressing room afterwards and I have often wondered if the rest of the players were thinking the same as I was, namely that you should never rely on a single match to make or break a full season.

The following weekend my misery was made almost complete when we lost a tight match at Stamford Bridge……in the last quarter of an hour we penned Chelsea into their own box but the ball just wouldn’t drop kindly and we lost 2-1.

Chelsea proved to be the most resilient side that season and won the title by finishing with 52 points from their 42 matches, four more than three other sides, Wolverhampton, Portsmouth and ourselves in fourth. It still rates as the club’s second highest finish after third in 1949-50 since the last league success in 1936 but it is of little consolation. Fourth might mean something these days with qualification for the Champions League as a reward but it counted for little in 1955. Certainly no-one was celebrating, least of all me although at the time I was consoled by the thought that we might be in a position to challenge again over the next few seasons.

Even now I still can’t however feel that it was a chance we threw away. This is despite the fact that Chelsea did have more than their fair share of decent players including Roy Bentley who was a very strong inside forward who I played against many times and who had two good feet and was very good in the air.

To make matters worse, and how could it be, Newcastle won the FA Cup for the third time in five seasons, beating our semi-final conquerors Manchester City at Wembley 3-1.

‘Gagging’ claims as Jersey court case gets under way

‘Gagging’ claims as Jersey court case gets under way

As published in Big Issue in the North magazine 

An MP fears the victims of child abuse on Jersey will be “gagged” if the establishment on the island is successful in bankrupting and disqualifying from office two local members of parliament.

Shona Pitman and her husband Trevor have represented the St Helier parish since 2005 and 2008 respectively. Both have expressed their concerns about child abuse on many occasions.

Jersey’s child abuse scandal first surfaced in 2007, following which 192 victims and 151 abusers were identified during a police investigation. Seven people were successfully prosecuted.

An inquiry into child abuse on the island was due to have started this autumn but had to be delayed due to the overseeing judge suffering a heart attack.

Visits by Jimmy Savile to a children’s home on Jersey will form part of the inquiry.

The Pitmans believe the island’s Law Office has not pursued evidence against abusers. They have attempted, with backing from other parliamentary members and campaigners against child abuse, to get justice minister Lord McNally to “ensure good governance”.

Damages

This drew a muted response from the Lib Dem peer who replied: “Jersey has its own justice system so we can’t really interfere.”

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who is head of the Privy Council – which acts as a court of appeal for Jersey – has also refused to get involved.

Last year, the couple sought damages for defamation against the Jersey Evening Post (JEP) and the Broadlands estate agency, which placed a cartoon advert in the paper in 2008. The Pitmans alleged this was intended to portray them as money-grabbers who had entered politics for personal gain.

John Lyndon Le Breton, the senior judge in the case, was a friend of the newspaper’s director and principal of an exclusive fee-paying secondary school where, for indecently assaulting teenagers, paedophile Andrew Jervis-Dykes was given a four-year sentence in 1999. Colleagues of the guilty man refused to co-operate with the police and Le Breton wrote in support of him. Le Breton subsequently sat on other child abuse cases but has since retired.

The Pitmans lost their case after the defendants successfully argued the cartoon referred to the fact that the plaintiffs would be able to obtain a mortgage worth four times their joint salaries.

Defamation

The Jersey parliamentarians were left owing around a quarter of a million pounds in costs to their lawyers and the two defendants. This week the Pitmans will appear before the Jersey Appeal Court in an attempt to overturn an earlier decision that they have exhausted the time period in which they can appeal against the defamation decision.

They are representing themselves and need to win or face being declared bankrupt. Unlike in Britain, this will mean they are disqualified from elected office. Their home and jobs would be lost. The Pitmans argue: “The establishment and JEP want us to be forced out of politics.”

Earlier this month, the Pitmans unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent the JEP publishing a story about threatening letters that had been sent to the lawyers for the JEP and Broadlands, as well as a prominent individual in the original defamation case and the Jersey politician Sean Power, who has previously criticised the Pitmans in the JEP.

The Pitmans accused the JEP of “yet another smear” and argued the letters had been sent to undermine them in the lead-up to their appeal. The newspaper; deputy editor, Andy Sibcy, has refused to comment on the Pitmans’ accusations or their claim that the letters had nothing to do with them. The incident has led to no police arrests.

Abuse allegations

Birmingham Yardley MP John Hemming has taken a keen interest in events on Jersey and it was his intervention that helped remove the 500-day ban on American journalist Leah McGrath Goodman from visiting the island and investigating child abuse allegations.

Hemming has recently supported Stuart Syvret, Jersey’s former health minister, who was jailed for contempt of court after he refused to remove online allegations about four islanders. The Data Protection Commissioner brought the case against Syvret. None of the four has attempted to sue the former politician for defamation. Hemming has named the four individuals in an early day motion in Parliament and called Syvret’s jailing “an affront to freedom of speech”.

This is the second time Syvret has gone to jail. In 2010 he published a confidential report into suspicious deaths at Jersey’s General Hospital. In both case cases, Syvret has argued there has been a “cover-up”.

Hemming has now expressed his “fears that the establishment in Jersey are using legal proceedings to disqualify the Pitmans from their role in the island’s parliament”.

He added: “This has the effect of gagging victims of abuse as fewer people can speak out on their behalf. I very much hope they are successful in their appeal.”

Frank Worthington - First Division top scorer 35 years ago this season with Bolton Wanderers

Frank Worthington - First Division top scorer 35 years ago this season with Bolton Wanderers

This is an extract from Golden Boot book that was written by Tony Matthews and Mark Metcalf and which was published in 2011 by Amberley publishing. 

Five Bolton Wanderers players have finished as top scorer in the top flight of English football since League football started in 1888/89. The last to achieve the feat was Frank Worthington in 1978/79 with 24 League goals.  

Frank Worthington netted on his Bolton Wanderers debut against Stoke City in October 1977. After two frustrating near misses, manager Ian Greaves hoped his arrival would bring promotion into the top flight. The England international, costing just £90,000 from Leicester City, did not disappoint and on 26 April 1978, his goal away to Blackburn Rovers won the Wanderers the two points they needed to confirm promotion.  

Back in Division One after a fifteen-season absence Worthington’s goal threat and ability to bring others into the game with his sublime passing skills were going to be important if Bolton were to stay there. Joining him up front was former Newcastle United man Alan Gowling, and they were to form a fine partnership. The latter struck the opening goal against Bristol City on the season’s first day, only for Bolton to lose 2-1.

There was therefore relief when a point was earned from a hard fought 2-2 draw at Southampton. After a summer in which some great free-kicks had been scored at the World Cup Finals in Argentina, the man who started his career at Huddersfield wanted to demonstrate he had his own special ways of netting from a dead-ball situation. He did so twice leading Greaves to comment that “he loves skill and if he comes across someone who can bend a free kick 4 feet he will want to do it better.” 

Another goal of real quality came at home to Leeds United. With the away side searching for an equaliser Willie Morgan sent Worthington free, and he beat David Harvey with a fierce low drive to make it 3-1. Interviewed in the Bolton Evening News, Worthington played down his goalscoring achievements saying, “Really I think like a midfield player as I am constantly trying to help the players around him.”

On 7 October 1978, the Bolton Evening News Special Correspondent wrote, ‘Quality is the feature that runs through Worthington’s play. His subtle touches and high entertainment value thrill supporters of other clubs.’ 

Gowling too was hitting the net, and when he and Worthington both netted for the third consecutive match in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City the two established a reputation as ‘goal twins.’ In 1978/79, the pair scored 39 League goals between them. 

Three came in a 3-1 win at QPR. Worthington was magnificent and scored twice. One was a marvellous solo effort. He was also accused of spitting at Ernie Howe and John Hollins and when the former committed a bad foul on him, the Bolton centre forward was fortunate to stay on the pitch after throwing a retaliatory punch. Fortunately, it wasn’t as good as his shooting as he missed! 

He scored another double as Bolton demolished Manchester United 3-0 just before Christmas. Inevitably, Gowling got the other goal. Bad weather meant it wasn’t until March that Worthington netted again when his curling free kick deceived Manchester City ‘keeper Joe Corrigan. 

Playing so well, it was no surprise Worthington was in demand. Attempts to rebuild the USA Soccer League saw Philadelphia Fury offering him big money to play there during the summer. He was determined to go. Greaves didn’t want him to, but conceded he had no choice “because with his contract expiring at the season’s end I’d have probably lost Frank for good by refusing to let him go.” 

Worthington, at thirty, was looking to the future, but he continued to enjoy himself at Bolton as Gowling and he both bagged two each in a 4-2 beating of Arsenal. Continuing their double act, both scored as QPR were beaten 2-1 in a fine game.

Bolton also won the next match 2-1. As it was at Old Trafford it ensured a famous ‘double’ against Manchester United. Worthington scored both at the Stretford End. Martin Buchan made it 1-0 at half-time and then, after Worthington had equalised, Gordon McQueen missed a penalty. 

Bolton, though, remained under considerable pressure. Then, with little more than a minute to go, a fine Brian Smith run and pass was flicked beyond the keeper for the winning goal to the delight of Wanderers fans everywhere.  

Against Ipswich Town at home, Frank Worthington scored the goal of the season.

“In front of the TV cameras Worthington scored a goal fit to grace any occasion. He was on the edge of the box, back to goal with the Ipswich defenders snapping at his heels. Calmly he flicked the ball up twice, lifted it over his head and turned to fire a shot past Cooper’s left hand into the corner of the net.” (Gordon Sharrock, reporting in the Bolton Evening News)

Worthington netted his final goal of the season against Tottenham Hotspur. For once, he was outshone by the all-round abilities of Argentinean Osvaldo Ardiles. Few though were the players in 1978-79 who could say they’d played better than Frank Worthington. Yet within months he’d departed Burnden Park when, after arriving back late from America, he failed to produce anything like his previous form. He was quickly sold to Birmingham City. Three seasons there were followed by a tour of the country with spells at a host of clubs before he finally finished playing in 1991, 25-years after his first Huddersfield appearance.   

BLACK STAR BRITAIN’S ASIAN YOUTH MOVEMENTS book review

BLACK STAR
BRITAIN’S ASIAN YOUTH MOVEMENTS
(Pluto Press, £17.50)

This is a vibrant, compelling history of the anti-racist campaigns of the British Asian youth movements (AYMs) of the 1970s and 1980s,

in which “black” identity was a political colour inspiring unity amongst all those struggling against racism.

Why did you write this book?

After 9/11, South Asians were framed within a traditional cultural-faith discourse. I wanted to represent a history which would present us as communities where politics was central to our identity. The AYMs were secular but the most important aspect was they were anti-racist and anti-imperialist and this understanding is crucial to young South Asians whatever their religious beliefs. AYMs also demonstrated when people stand together against injustice they will win and this is an important lesson for Muslims today faced with resisting anti-terror legislation.

What lay behind the slogan ‘black people must unite, here to stay, here to fight!”
It demonstrated these young south Asians were not trying to exclude themselves from society. But they wanted a Britain in which they were respected and treated equally and in which all individuals had the right to work on a living wage. The slogan highlighted unity amongst all black people which meant Africans and Asians, and even Chileans if they wished, because it was about a unity against racism.

Why did Asian youth find it necessary to organise independently?
Because racism was central to their experience, both as young people suffering street racial violence as well as discrimination by the state who framed them as “problems”. The left and trade unions meanwhile failed to address their own racism. Nevertheless, the youth were clear that the only real force in British society capable of fighting the growth of organised racism and fascism is the unity of the workers movement. They did not want to separate themselves from the left but to work with them as equals.

How did asserting “self-defence is no offence” help the Bradford 12 overcome charges of conspiracy to cause explosives and endanger lives following the police discovery of homemade Molotov cocktails in 1981?

The Bradford 12 was the first time the self-defence law had been used in the context of a community. Many of the key defendants had been involved in the anti-racist struggle. The cocktails were made because of genuine fears that racist skinheads were coming to Bradford to terrorise the Asian community and because the attitudes and previous history of the police in ignoring racist attacks showed they could not be depended upon to offer support. No cocktails were employed and defendants argued they had only produced them for self-defence, “should the need arise”. The case was won because there was a campaign and it was not simply a courtroom drama.

How important was state (local and national) funding in breaking up these once powerful grass roots organisations?

If you are struggling for a mother separated from her children and the law says all your appeal avenues are over then your independence means you can continue to pursue the case for justice as happened in the Anwar Ditta case. If you are struggling against police racism and corruption then you can name the police officers and their violence - as was done in the campaign to protect Gary Pemberton. It is also possible when appropriate to use direct action as a means of protest.  You can’t do this in state funded organisations.