Plaque will honour world's first black international footballer - Halifax Courier

 

DEDICATED TREE PLANTING AT THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF ELLEN STRANGE

 

DEDICATED TREE PLANTING

HONOUR ELLEN STRANGE AND ALL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

10:30am ON THURSDAY 20^th MARCH

EMMANUEL CHURCH, CHAPEL LANE, HOLCOMBE BL8 4NB

Since 2014 there has been an annual remembrance walk up onto Holcombe Moor  outside Ramsbottom to the oldest site in the world to commemorate a domestic violence victim, Ellen Strange, murdered there in 1761 by her husband. Since when local people have laid stones and over time a cairn has been formed in memory of Ellen and all the victims and survivors of domestic abuse and violence, virtually all of whom are women and girls.

You can watch the event at :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0_uhqtluol&t=5s

You can read more at:- http://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ellen-strangebooklet.pdf

Now following extensive research, Ellen's final, currently unmarked resting place has been located. Fittingly this happens to be the spot where the annual walk starts.

On 20^th March at 10:30 the Breightmet Butterflies Women's group will lead a planting of a rosemary bush at Ellen's resting place, followed by short speeches, dedications and a minute of reflection. Flowers are welcome to be laid at the resting place

For more details contact Mark Metcalf on 07392852561 

metcalfmc@outlook .com

Plaque unveiling to Betty Tebbs on 25th April in Radcliffe

 Betty Tebbs 1918-2017

This notice has been sent to UNISON members 

A staunch trades unionist and tireless champion of women's rights will be honoured at a special celebration in Bury at 2pm on Friday 25th April.


A plaque will be unveiled on the former gates of  East Lancashire Paper Mill (ELPM) 

 in Festival Gardens, Radcliffe  to celebrate Bury-born Betty Tebbs, named by the TUC as one of the 150 most influential figures in the trade union movement in the UK.

Born in 1918, Betty lived all her long life in Bury until she passed away in 2017 at the grand old age of 99. As a worker at East Lancashire Paper Mill, she was in the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers, which amalgamated into Unite.  As well
as campaigning for women's rights, she also campaigned for nuclear disarmament and peace.

Worthy of celebration by all trades unionists, our NWRWC secretary Dawn Warriner will be flying the flag for UNISON by taking the NW Region Women's Banner with her to the event. If any of you are local to Bury,  you are more than welcome to join Dawn and you can take your own branch banner along.

The celebration has been spearheaded by a music teacher who is taking a local children's choir from St John's Primary School to sing a song  especially written for the

occasion.

Read Betty's story at:- 

https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/6328-betty-tebbs-web.pdf

This event will be recorded as part of a 30-minute documentary that myself and 

the VideoBox of Bolton are producing on Betty's life and legacy.

This will be released later this year. 

Andrew Feinstein draws lessons from Halifax 1842 and the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa

 

Watch Andrew's speech at:- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXW73WoRPG8

Whistling in the wind - Halifax MP ignores questions on proposed destruction of peat bog

I wrote to Kate Dearden MP asking  her some questions regarding the proposed destruction of peatland to allow for the construction of 65 wind turbines. The response failed to answer my questions. 

 Mark Metcalf

An NUJ and FWA member

07392 852561 metcalfmc@outlook.com

 

To: Kate Dearden MP,

kate.dearden.mp@parliament.uk

As a Halifax voter I am writing in my role as Calderdale Trades Union Council treasurer and delegate to STRONGER TOGETHER – STOP CALDERDALE WIND FARM, to urge you to support our call on the government to ban wind farms on protected peatland in England.

As you’ll know a company called Calderdale Wind Farm proposes to construct a 100MW+ wind farm  on the highly protected Walshaw Moor. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0344pq9melo  In October 2024 it announced its intention to submit a Development Consent Order application under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects planning regulations, that it was confident the government’s planning reforms would make possible.  (The Planning Inspectorate has since told us that if they want to do this, the developer will have to restart the scoping process and submit a new Scoping report to them.)

The proposed onshore wind farm - the first in England to be proposed for a peatland site - follows the Government’s decision to accelerate the planning process for more land based wind turbines, a policy that the CTUC would, generally, support. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3lq3ylzr0o

However, the CTUC is convinced that to allow the building of 65 wind turbines on, as would be the case, peat bog would not only be disastrous for the climate and biodiversity but also for many people living in the Calder Valley. This is because of the increased flood risk from inevitable damage to the irreplaceable blanket bog.

Peatlands are the UK’s largest natural carbon land store,  and wetlands such as Walshaw Moor blanket bog are among the most biodiverse habitats in the world. They are also the most threatened, and are disappearing three times faster than forests. They are essential for mitigating extreme weather events such as storms and floods, and there are compelling climate change reasons for restoring wetland biodiversity.

The need to preserve peat bog is something I have written about – mainly for the Big Issue North and UNITE Landworker magazine - on many occasions over the years. Damage to Walshaw Moor peat bog has previously been caused by heather burning to support intensive driven grouse shooting. The effect has been to lower the water table, causing peat to dry out, thereby releasing carbon and stored pollutants such as heavy metals. This was identified in a 2015 study of The Effects of Moorland Burning on the Ecohydrology of River basins  funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Dewatering and drainage of the blanket bog to enable the wind farm’s construction and operation would cause similar damage to the peat’s hydrology, with a similar increased flood risk in surrounding valleys. Drying out the blanket bog would kill off sphagnum moss and other peat-forming vegetation that slows the flow of rainstorm runoff from the moors and reduces peak flows in the catchment’s rivers. Destruction  of the vegetation also threatens endangered birds that depend on these highly protected habitats, that are legally required to be restored to a favourable condition. (2019 Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations.)

In its consultation on proposed planning reforms last autumn, the government itself recognised that  there is a case for “additional protections” for “habitats …containing peat soils.” 90% of respondents agreed. So please will you tell both Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government with responsibility for the proposed planning reforms, that you support the call for a ban on windfarms on protected peatland in England?

Over the past two days,  33 Halifax constituents have signed the Parliamentary petition to ban windfarms on protected peatland.  And before Christmas a number of Halifax Constituents signed letters to you about this at a stall in Calder Valley. The letters will shortly be delivered to your constituency office.

Although your predecessor Holly Lynch never officially recognised that damage to the Walshaw Moor peat bog worsened flooding in the Calder Valley in places such as Mytholmroyd, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, following a very large number of letters from her constituents she did support significant investment in flood defences, which only recently (only just) prevented widescale flooding in the Calder Valley. These costly flood defences could easily be overwhelmed by any increase in peak flow due to damage to the blanket bog from infrastructure construction.

It is clear that the government is concerned about restoring damaged  peat bogs. The Peatland Restoration policy team at DEFRA note that “England’s upland blanket bogs, lowland fens and valley mires are places of striking natural beauty. They are also valuable carbon dioxide stores and home to a rich variety of rare wildlife. When in good condition, these peatlands help fight climate change and provide wider environmental benefits.” Consequently, the Defra Peatland Restoration policy team  are working to turn the tide on peatland degradation and drive forward progress on peatland restoration through a collaborative, landscape-scale approach based on peatland partnerships across England’s major peatlands areas.
https://defraenvironment.blog.gov.uk/2024/10/08/how-peatland-partnerships-are-transforming-and-restoring-degrading-landscapes-into-healthy-vibrant-peatlands/

Landscape-scale blanket bog restoration on the protected South Pennine Moors Special Protection Area, Special Conservation Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest is a much better way of tackling the twin climate and nature crises than allowing for the building of the largest wind farm in Britain on a peat bog on Walshaw Moor.

We need windfarms but not on protected peat. There is plenty of non-peat land in England for all the wind farms that are needed for the 'green transition'. Without the ban we’re requesting, windfarms could be built on protected peatland across England – not just on Walshaw Moor above the Calder Valley, but from Kielder all the way to Exmoor and Dartmoor, as well as other extensive areas of protected peatland across Northumberland, Cumbria, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, the Peak District, Staffordshire Moorlands, with bad consequences for the climate and biodiversity:

• Peat forms over thousands of years and disturbing it releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. It cannot be replaced
• Intact and restored peatland will continue to absorb carbon long after the life span of a windfarm
• The mosses which grow on peat absorb water and create hummocks which help to prevent fast runoff and flash flooding in the valleys.
• Disturbance of peat can also lead to peat slides which can cause structural, chemical and ecological destruction.
• Peatland supports various species of flora, fauna and fungi some of which are endangered - Just like it is impossible to replace peat that has been disturbed, it is impossible to replace these species once they’re gone.

I am therefore writing to ask you to support our call for the government to ban wind farms on protected peatland, and to make public your support. I am aware of a number of your constituents who feel the same. I am more than willing to join any of them in meeting you to express our concerns.

We are also inviting Ed Miliband to come and walk on Walshaw Moor with us to find out what blanket bog is and does, and we would also like to invite you too.

Many thanks,

 

Mark Metcalf

How I helped ensure Arsenal were forced to spend around £2 million extra in 2007 on improving their disability facilities

 

In the period between 2005 and 2007 I worked with the Sunday Express on a number of sports bases articles. One that was abandoned concerned the poor facilities for disabled fans at the new Emirates Stadium. Arsenal somehow managed to persuade the paper into abandoning this 'bad news' story, apparently promising the paper some exclusive transfer news pieces instead. I was paid for my work by the paper but it left a sour taste, Much of the the article was later run the Big Issue North magazine and on the Empower Sport website. 

Disabling Discrimination in Football Stadia

 by Mark Metcalf © Mark Metcalf

October 4^th 2007

 

Empower Sport    http://empower-sport.com   can exclusively reveal that Arsenal, who recently took over the mantle as Britain’s richest club, are being forced to spend perhaps as much as two million pounds on bringing their facilities for disabled fans up to standard in their new ground.

 

It comes after the London club ignored an opportunity to receive advice from the National Association of Disabled Supporters [NADS] before the incredibly expensive Emirates Stadium was built.

 

Meanwhile lower down the league’s, at Shrewsbury’s new ground, the football club has  failed to ensure that the facilities provided for wheelchair disabled supporters comply with Accessible Stadium Document regulations that govern the locations of viewing areas.

 

Clearly as the following article from Mark Metcalf reveals much still needs to be done to ensure that facilities for disabled fans enter the 21^st century as soon as possible.

 

Whilst facilities for disabled football fans have been markedly improved at some – mainly new – stadiums they still remain less than satisfactory at others. Currently, for example, many clubs can only offer a wheelchair user a view at pitch level – where they are at the mercy of the weather, have their view of the match restricted by stewards and police in front of them and also occasionally having to worry about a crowd surge from behind during moments of excitement or crowd trouble.

 

Manchester United follower Phil Downs MBE has for years been at the forefront of the struggle to achieve improved facilities for disabled fans. Phil himself became disabled when he suffered an accident many years ago whilst training to be a London Metropolitan Police Officer. No jokes now about all Man Utd fans being from London; Phil had moved to ‘the smoke’ to join the police.

 

Until recently he was the Chairman of the National Association of Disabled Supporters, (NADS) and whilst he has just resigned from the post he remains as committed as ever to improving facilities for disabled fans. It was possible to catch up with him before the recent Man Utd – Sunderland game at Old Trafford in the highly impressive and unique Ability Suite that he persuaded ‘The Red Devils’ to give to its disabled fans in 2003.  

 

“It used to be the old ticket office. To convert it for use by disabled fans on match days where they can watch the big plasma TV’s and get refreshments cost £150,000. On non-match days it is equipped with computers and is used for various training courses. I think that every ground should have similar facilities.  Leeds has a smaller version, but disabled fans at other clubs have nothing. I get a lot of emails from visiting fans saying how good the match day experience has been, away fans are welcome,” says Downs.

 

Stephen Crompton, a Man Utd season ticket holder of many years agrees, saying, “There are a lot more disabled people going to matches. I go to away games and facilities like these at all grounds would be great. A few years back I was unable to go to matches because there weren’t the facilities for disabled fans, but things have improved.”

 

Downs was hopeful that NADS was going to be in a position to find out for themselves the exact situation facing disabled fans wanting to watch their side at all 92 Premier and League grounds this season – this followed an earlier review of facilities when members of the group had visited and toured the grounds on non-match days. His and other campaigners’ hope is to bring facilities into the 21^st century.

 

“We’d done the initial assessments when the grounds were empty. What we wanted to do was assess things on a match day. NADS was hoping to get funding from the Football Foundation to pay for people’s expenses. However, they hesitated because some of the people at the Football League and Premier League had an idea it could be done electronically, which is all very well if you’ve got access to the internet, but if you haven’t it makes it a lot more difficult and whilst it’s important to see what’s there in a stadium I feel that first hand experience can’t be beaten. What you can see on a screen may look ok but it may turn out to be totally different when there’s a game on. We should be able to benchmark the facilities especially as at the majority of stadiums things are not quite as good as they should be,” says Downs.

 

And so without the Football Foundation, or someone else, being willing to fund what seems an essential piece of research there is no way of knowing just how much needs to be done to ensure that clubs are providing improved facilities for fans with disabilities.

 

Clubs with older stadiums do, of course, provide a particular challenge. Some were built many years ago – Liverpool’s disabled fans in wheelchairs for example are largely located at pitch level – but there are also problems in even some of the newer ones. For example, Shrewsbury Town opened its new ground with a prestigious friendly against Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City side, with the 10,000 all-seater stadium packed to the rafters. A glorious new chapter in the small Shropshire side’s history ended the club’s association with the quaint Gay Meadow ground close to the Town Centre that offered little in the way of home comforts for disabled supporters.

 

Sadly Shrewsbury either deliberately or through ignorance misinterpreted the Accessible Stadium Document – this forms part of the Building Regulations which apply to new grounds, and which involve being visited by either the Football Licensing Authority or the local authority before construction. For a 10,000 seat stadium there should be a minimum of 100 wheelchair spaces – which at Shrewsbury there is. Downs is still dissatisfied. “The accessible stadium document states the dispersal of these around the stadium should be seventy-five elevated and twenty-five pitch side,” he says. At Shrewsbury it was initially a complete reversal with only twenty-five elevated, although following some discussions between NADS and the Division Two side the numbers have been increased.

 

Downs however is worried that what he calls ‘the Shrewsbury Syndrome’ may be used by other clubs saying ‘why should we be any different to Shrewsbury?’ Downs says, “The problem is, are football clubs going to drive a coach and horses through the accessible document after one club has manipulated the figures?”  Always determined to offer a right to reply Empower-Sport asked Shrewsbury to comment but to date we’ve had no luck in our enquiries. Any response from Shrewsbury will be included as soon as practicably possible.

 

One ground where Downs is confident that facilities for disabled fans will be up to scratch is at Liverpool’s proposed new stadium to be built on Stanley Park. Downs “The new ground before the takeover would certainly have met all the requirements of disabled supporters,” he says. “I saw the proposals, I went through them with the architects and that’s the sort of response we hope to get from the architects. It was very good and I do think in general that there is growing evidence that the architects are taking more notice of the accessible stadium document.” 

 

One club that might have done better if it had is Arsenal, where NADS tried to enter into what Downs describes as “meaningful discussion” before the incredibly expensive Emirates Stadium was built because by doing so they may have saved themselves a lot of money and also just as importantly have provided up to date facilities for all their disabled supporters and their carers/assistants.

 

What happened at Arsenal is that in the Lower Tier of the ground the Gunners raised the wheelchair platforms resulting in the positions for carers/companions being moved behind. “This has been a big no for sometime,” Downs says. “On behalf of NADS I tried to get in meaningful discussion with Arsenal but it proved very difficult.”

 

Empower-Sport contacted Arsenal for comment on Phil Downs’s observations. We also suggested that the club were forcing carers who wanted to see the game to stand up which we felt was somewhat ironic as we were aware that the Arsenal supporters long running fanzine ‘The Gooner’ has been inundated with letters and complaints about heavy handed stewarding forcing people to stay in their seats or face ejection in other parts of the Stadium.

 

Although we’d not be so silly to suggest that our intervention has proved crucial we are happy to report that in their reply Arsenal has indicated publicly for the first time that: ‘To improve this situation, we are currently awaiting local authority approval to raise all the carer/companion seats in the Lower Tier, in order that the views are enhanced.’ Great news all round then, but at the considerable cost we estimate of close to £2 million, Empower-Sport has asked Arsenal to keep us informed of developments.

 

Despite resigning as Chairman of NADS Downs still hopes to see the body getting funds from the Football Foundation; and he is keen to see the outcome of the meeting he helped arrange with it and the All Party Football Group [APFG] in the House of Commons that is due to take place in November and which we will subsequently report on.

 

Alan Keen MP for Feltham is the chair of the Group and he told Empower-Sport that he ‘”is most concerned to hear about the allegations re Shrewsbury Town’s ground and that he supports the NADS objectives of disabled supporters enjoying a parity of match day experience with able-bodied supporters”.

 

Alan Keen MP however didn’t feel that it may be necessary to introduce legislation in addition to the Disability Discrimination Act to force clubs into providing improved facilities for disabled supporters and stated that APFG “will work with NADS to raise their concerns and have them addressed by the football authorities” including the Premier and Football Leagues and the FA.

 

Phil Downs has been invited on to the FA Committee for Disability and Equality, whose remit is to try and develop disabled sports facilities and participation in the game. He says, “I am optimistic, but we need to have discussions with the footballing authorities to discuss getting together a longer – say five year – plan. I don’t think it’s beyond the remit to improve things. Things are not perfect by any way and it does need some sort of structured attempt. This must be brought in by the Leagues and the FA. I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest to push things further into the background; the problems that exist in grounds aren’t going to go away simply by ignoring them.”

 

Downs draws an interesting parallel to the fight against racism in football and disability rights. “If you talk about racism I do understand that could be a continuing problem as it may take generations to alter people’s attitudes,” says Downs. “You’re not talking about that for disabled fans. It will not take generations to resolve the problems facing disabled fans that want to watch, and in some cases play football.”

 

And Downs concludes by calling for all fans to support the rights of disabled supporters to enjoy watching and participating in sport – something Empower-Sport is proud to do. “There is moral imperative for all fans to support this, and get it right,” he says. “Also anyone is likely to become disabled, I had an accident and before then I didn’t know anything about people in wheelchairs.”

Reconnecting

 

Reconnecting

Let’s name the New Wear Footbridge after SAFC founder James Allan because its opening will connect the SAFC of today to the spot where it was formed

When the 250m New Wear Footbridge opens later this year it will help  create a smooth and safe connection for pedestrian traffic from the city centre to the 'Stadium of Light’ and will eventually bring together Sunderland's Sheepfolds area with Keel Square in the city centre.

Hopes are that the £30m+ structure will help spur thousands of new jobs and homes over the next decade and during which Sunderland AFC will celebrate its 150^th anniversary.

With this mind then is it not time that the founder of the club James Allan was publicly recognised in the City and so why not name the new bridge after him?

The location of the bridge is also perfect to name it after Allan, who became SAFC secretary, because it is as close as can be to the former Rectory Park Schools. This is where Sunderland and District Teachers’ Association met on 25 September 1880 and at Allan’s instigation formed a football club, which, following the first ever practice game of football in Sunderland two weeks later, subsequently became SAFC on 16 October 1880.

Today’s ISIS pub would have been directly across from Rectory Park Schools, just a few hundred yards from where the new bridge will start on the south side. As such the new bridge will connect today’s club with its original history and for that we have James Allan to thank.

Mark Metcalf – author and football historian

07392 852561

metcalfmc@outlook.com

Mark Metcalf’s updated biography on Charlie Hurley ‘The Greatest Centre-Half The World Has Ever Seen’ is available for purchase from the ALS shop.

                                         Rectory Park Schools