Go to a play….
Townsend Productions, who have produced some of the best plays about the history of the labour movement, have a new production Behold Ye Ramblers, written by Neil Gore and produced in association with the Society for the Study of Labour History.
“From the voices of ramblers and campaigners, to the songs and poetry inspired by past and current struggles, Behold Ye Ramblers is a new play about The Clarion newspaper and the organisations formed by its readership, including famous rambling club, The Sheffield Clarion Ramblers.
Along with the Clarion Cyclists, these early Edwardian pioneers promoted healthy outdoor pursuits, organising expeditions across open moors and mountains whilst campaigning for the right to roam, bringing them into conflict with landowners’ hunting and shooting activities and laws that prioritised private property over the wellbeing of others.”
Touring nationally March – June. More information here.
Another play Jennie Lee has been written and produced by northern theatre group Mikron. The play celebrates Jennie Lee (1904-1988) , the youngest female working -class MP elected in 1929 (until 1931) for the left- wing Independent Labour Party. Unlike many working-class young women of the era, she went to University and worked as a journalist. Married to the more famous Nye Bevan she has been marginalised in labour history. Sadly, after supporting many socialist causes, she accepted a baronetcy in 1970.
The play is touring April – June . More information here.
Watch.. a film about Neus Catala (1915-2019)
Catalan, feminist, and anti-fascist, her life is depicted in a new film Un Cel de plom (Ashes in the Sky) which she was involved with the script.
Neus was a lifelong fighter against fascism in her home country of Spain and against the Nazis in the French Resistance Movement. Imprisoned by the Nazis, alongside other women prisoners, she sabotaged the bombs and shells she was forced to work on.
She was an activist all her life, dying at 103. She said ““I wanted to see it all. To see to explain. To explain what my eyes saw to everyone. Because it is a duty. Because I survived and I have a moral duty to the women, so forgotten, who died in the death camps … I never, never cried before a Nazi. I only cried at night … They stole my sleep, but they never took my freedom or life.”
This film is being is part of Home’s Spanish Film Festival . Book here.
Find out about .. Tish Murtha
Tish (1956-2013) was a photographer from a working -class community in Elswick in the west end of Newcastle. One of 10 children, she chose her own community as the focus of her lens in the 1970s and 80s.
Tish died at 56 with little recognition. Her daughter tells her story, shows her photographs, and speaks to her friends and families in this very important documentary. Watch it on BBC Four on 1 April at 9pm.
Join an online event …
Women’s Grassroots Activism AHRC Research Network Online Conference: 9 May 9 · 10:30am and 10 May 10 · 5pm. It is mainly academics except for Bernadette Hyland of MQC speaking on “Women in the Irish in Britain Representation Group” and Ann Rossiter speaking about her involvement in the Women’s Liberation Movement. Book here
Take part in…6th Bristol Radical History Festival: 20-21 April 2024
“Join Bristol Radical History Group and partners in exploring an exciting programme of talks, walks, stalls and exhibitions, plus the uplifting sound of the Red Notes choir.” And it is free!
Further details here
Buy…: THE LITTLE SQUATTERS HANDBOOK
“A lonely house all falling down,
Five homeless folk alone and cold,
How can there be a happy end?
Read on and see the tale unfold…”
“5 homeless toys squat an empty doll’s house and turn it in to a home.
Will they get to stay?”
Lovely 32-page full colour photo-story book by Cordelia & Ziggy
Retail price: £4.00. Available from Past Tense.
Go for a walk in London…
The Radical History Faction returns… with a new series of events for Spring & Summer 2024.
Kicking off with
Central London Squat History Walk
How squatting changed (and failed to change) the city.
78 years of squatting history, including
squats for housing, for protest, for social centres, women’s centres,
book shops ………
plus the square that squatting half saved, the army surplus grenades
affair…….
Free to attend. Bring your own stories!
Sunday April 14th
meet midday
Tolmers Square NW1 2PE
(Euston Square/Warren Street nearest tubes)
Mary Quaile Club 
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