Tony Fox, a member of the International Brigades Memorial Trust who lives in Billingham will give a talk on ‘A complete history of the memorial plaque to the Teesside International Brigades’ on Tuesday 8 June at 7.00pm

Topic: Teesside International Brigades Plaque
Time: Jun 8, 2021 07:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87335888047?pwd=N0h2V0VCTzJJTWZnUGhwWEpSbHlRdz09

Meeting ID: 873 3588 8047
Passcode: 201272

The Teesside International Brigades Memorial is an oak board with a triangular pediment top. The lettering and International Brigade crest are hand painted. It shows the International Brigades crest, the names of ten volunteers who fell, an inscription and a list of XV Brigade Battle Honours.

The text of the inscription reads:

TO DEFEND LIBERTY  . . . they typified the real Britons’ hatred of the tyrant, they went to safeguard peace and the arts of peace that humanity might go forward. They went to help the defenceless Spanish people fight the invading armies. They went to save their loved ones and us from the horrors of fascism because they loved peace they went out to fight from . . . TEES-SIDE

 The idea for a memorial arose during a 1939 meeting in the offices of the Young Communist League (YCL) in Middlesbrough, on Marton Road, it was to be a memorial to their friends and comrades who lost their lives fighting fascism with the International Brigades.