Book launch Events in Durham, Stockton and Newcastle: 'African Lives in Northern England: From Roman Times to the 21st Century'
2021-10-17 - 2021-10-24 | Durham, Stockton and Newcastle
This booklet, authored by the African Lives in Northern England project and edited by Beverley Prevatt Goldstein, celebrates the history of Black lives in northern England and dispels the myth that the North East is exclusively white and monocultural. From Septimus Severus, the Roman Emperor, to 19th century Cumbrian John Kent who was believed to be Britain’s first black policeman, to 21st century Newcastle MP Chinyelu ‘Chi’ Onwurah, this booklet reveals a rich and diverse history.

Durham: This booklet will be launched on October 17th at Durham Book Festival. Click here for more information.
Stockton: A talk and discussion will take place at Stockton Reference Library, October 21st, 6-7.30pm. For more information and to book your place at £3 contact 01642 528079, reference.library@stockton.gov.uk
Newcastle: A free mini-presentation will be held at Newcastle Central Library on October 23rd, 3-3.45pm.

Each talk will be tailored to its location and signed copies of the booklet will be available to purchase. Booklets can also be purchased from Caroline Afolabi-Deleu at caroline@s4a.org.uk at £5.00 with £2.00 for packaging and postage This is a limited edition and copies will be sent out on a first-come, first-serve basis as payments are received.

Berwick Literary Festival: Michael Taylor - How and Why the British Defended Slavery
2021-10-17 17:00 - 18:00 (Europe/London) | Zoom
When the Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1823, it was confronted by a formidable lobby comprising slaveholders, merchants, politicians, journalists and intellectuals. This talk explores the ferocious campaign of the British pro-slavery lobby to preserve the institution of colonial slavery – even, in 1833, securing £20m in compensation for the slaveholders.
Michael is the author of The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery
Registration will be from 1 September: https://berwickliteraryfestival.com/

Tyneside Irish Centre, Dr Martin O’Donoghue will talk about The Anglo Irish Treaty and its Consequences
2021-10-19 19:30 - 21:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
“Full Canadian powers” or “Ireland’s right, full independence and nothing short of it”? The Anglo-Irish Treaty and its consequences.
On 6 December 1921, Irish negotiators signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty providing for the establishment of the Irish Free State as a dominion of the British Empire. One of the most controversial documents in modern Irish history, the Treaty led to a split in the Sinn Féin party, and ultimately, civil war. Examining the nature and measure of sovereignty desired by different Irish nationalists imagining self-government, this lecture will consider the arguments made for and against the Treaty, and analyse the longer-term significance of both the document and the split in the decades after 1922.
Dr Martin O’Donoghue is a teaching associate in Modern British and Irish History at The University of Sheffield and has previously held appointments at Northumbria University and the University of Limerick.
His research examines the dynamics of political activism in modern Ireland, the development of party politics, Irish-British relations, the Irish revolutionary period (1912-23), and commemoration. His first book, The Legacy of the Irish Parliamentary Party in Independent Ireland, 1922-1949, was published by Liverpool University Press in 2019 and was highly commended for the British Association of Irish Studies Book Prize.
October 19 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm at Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG
Free

Celebrating Black History Month - Film Screening @ Culture Lab Newcastle, Stand Up to Racism North East
2021-10-23 17:00 - 18:30 | The Culture Lab, Newcastle University
Stand Up to Racism – North East are hosting a double-bill of documentary film screenings on Saturday 23 October at Culture Lab in Newcastle University. The events starts at 5pm. They will be screening the award-winning short film ‘The Felling of Colston’ (2020 / 10mins) by Arthur Cauty, about the magnificent toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol in the summer of 2020. This will be followed by a rare screening of ‘The People’s Account’ (1986 / 50 mins), a hard-hitting account of police racism in the 1980s, with first person testimonies of the Broadwater Farm uprising which was sparked by police shootings of innocent black women.
You can book tickets here.

Black History Now!
2021-10-26 17:30 - 18:30 | Zoom
Black History Now! is an online panel discussion that reflects on the state of the field in Black British History and affirms its centrality to the discipline of History more widely. What is going on in Black History in Durham and the North East? How can historians in Durham and the wider region continue to build the field? And what are the implications of recent developments in the field for the movement to decolonise the curriculum?
The panel includes the following speakers: Stefanella Julius, Nkechi Managwu, and Emilie Tenbroek are historians studying at Durham and Decolonising the Curriculum Interns with the Decolonise Durham Network.
Sean Creighton is an independent historian who has worked extensively on Black British History, radical history, and the history of slavery and abolition in the North East, including his role in the Tyne & Wear Remembering Slavery project in 2007 and North East Popular Politics Project in 2010-13. He maintains a blog on History and Social Action.
Liam Liburd is Assistant Professor of Black British History at Durham University. His research interests lie in the history, impact and legacy of Empire, decolonisation and race/racism in twentieth-century Britain. Recently he published the article ‘Thinking Imperially: The British Fascisti and the Politics of Empire, 1923–35’ in Twentieth Century British History and featured in the BBC Radio 4 series Britain’s Fascist Thread.
To register for the Black History Now! event, please click here.

NELH Tuesday Meeting: Dr Cathy Hunt will talk about 'Righting the Wrong: the life and work of Mary Macarthur, 1880-1921'
2021-10-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Mary Macarthur, trade unionist and socialist, died 100 years ago in 1921. In this talk, her biographer, Dr Cathy Hunt, looks at the fascinating life and work of this pioneering leader, who founded the National Federation of Women Workers, which improved working conditions for thousands of some of the worst paid women in Britain. Cathy will draw attention to the struggles and barriers that faced women workers in the early 20th century whilst also highlighting their successes and strength in solidarity.
Interwoven with this is the absorbing life story of Mary Macarthur, on her journey from girlhood in Scotland to London activist and national leader, through to her tragically early death aged just 40.
Cathy Hunt is an independent community historian and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her research focuses on British labour and social history, with emphasis on women and work. Her publications includes a history of the National Federation of Women Workers, a biography of Mary Macarthur and a history of women’s lives in Coventry.
Zoom details to be circulated closer to the time.

Newcastle: Spanish Civil War Commemoration Event
2021-10-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Grounds of Newcastle Civic Centre
From Martin Levy

The Communist Party is planning, in conjunction with members of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, to repeat last year’s North East commemoration events for the ‘Volunteers for Liberty’ from the North East who gave their lives in Spain.
The Newcastle event will be at the International Brigade memorial in the grounds of the Civic Centre at 11.00am on Saturday 30 October.
The event will be relatively short, and will involve speeches, poetry, the reading of the names of the fallen.

Middlesbrough: Spanish Civil War Commemoration Event
2021-10-31 14:00 - 15:00 | Dorman Museum, Linthorpe Rd, Middlesbrough, TS5 6LA
From Martin Levy

The Communist Party is planning, in conjunction with members of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, to repeat last year’s North East commemoration events for the ‘Volunteers for Liberty’ from the North East who gave their lives in Spain.
The Middlesbrough event will be outside the Dorman Museum at 2.00pm on Sunday 31 October.
The event will be relatively short, and will involve speeches, poetry, the reading of the names of the fallen, and the laying of wreaths (in Middlesbrough, in the Tees by the Newport Bridge).

Durham University History Department and Gala Theatre: History Now! Coreen McGuire will talk about ‘Invisible Disability in Coalmining Communities’,
2021-11-16 17:30 - 18:30 | Zoom
From: Dr Tom Hamilton, Associate Professor in Early Modern European History, Durham University
The next event in the History Now! series of public talks, organised between the Durham University History Department and the Gala Theatre, is Coreen McGuire’s lecture on ‘Invisible Disability in Coalmining Communities’, which takes place via Zoom between 5.30 and 6.30pm next Tuesday 16 November.
All welcome! The link for registration is here.
Dr Coreen McGuire is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century British History at Durham University and author of Measuring Difference, Numbering Normal: Setting the Standards for Disability in the Interwar Period, published by Manchester University Press in 2020. Coreen’s research towards this book contributed to the Life of Breath project and her award-winning article on ‘The categorisation of hearing loss through telephony in inter-war Britain’ is available via open access here.
Here is an abstract for the talk on 16 November: Why was it so difficult for mineworkers and their families to get compensation for illness and disabilities caused by their work? The modern category of disability has been linked (especially by disabled activists) to industrialization and the needs of the labour market. However, historians have challenged this ‘industrialization thesis’ by providing evidence of the ubiquity and visibility of disability in British mining communities. Yet there was a significant hierarchy of disability in the coalmining compensation context. Everyday experiences of breathlessness were not categorised or recorded in the same way that accidents leading to amputations were. The same holds true for disability/ illnesses that were fluctuating, progressive, actively concealed (potentially with the use of hidden prosthesis), stigmatised (such as psychological disability) or associated with malingering (such as miner’s nystagmus). These kinds of experiences were only visible in exceptional cases, and it is less clear that they were either accepted or normalized. In this talk, Coreen McGuire shows how such contested compensation cases reveal hidden disability managed through networks of friends, family, and community.

WEA Talk by John Stirling: William Morris – Past, Present and Future
2021-11-20 10:00 - 13:00 | Brunswick Methodist Church, Brunswick Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7BJ
From Joanna Keith, Workers Educational Association.
William Morris – Past, Present and Future
A talk by John Stirling, Vice Chair of the William Morris Society on Saturday 20 November from 10.00am to 1.00pm at the Brunswick Methodist Church, Brunswick Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7BJ (entrance at the side of the Fenwicks Building)
Course Code: C2527355
Fee: £9.60p
Booking the course can be done through enrolling online by clicking on the link above or phoning 0300 303 3464 and quoting the course code.
Attendees may be entitled to a free place for this course if they are in receipt of a means tested benefit or they could get help towards their fees if they have a low personal salary or low household income.

Massimiliano Papini (Northumbria University) will talk about: The Idea of Japan in Victorian Charity Bazaars: Fundraising, Orientalism and Transculturality in the North East of England, 1867—1912
2021-11-22 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
Please book here: https://www.history.ac.uk/events/idea-japan-victorian-charity-bazaars-fundraising-orientalism-and-transculturality-north-east
Beyond international expositions and musical operettas such as The Mikado(1885) or The Geisha(1896), the other type of Japan-themed public event in which Victorian people experienced a transcultural encounter with Japan was the charity bazaar. Becoming popular in Britain in the early nineteenth century, the charity bazaar was a temporary, fundraising event which relied mainly on voluntary work, generally offered by local ladies, in both organising stalls and supplying each of them with the objects to put on sale. The revenue raised in these bazaars served to support a designated cause which might be in aid of hospitals, schools, missionary societies, and religious institutions. In order to attract visitors and supporters, these philanthropic events drew heavily on entertainments, including musicians, dancers, and actors, as well as elaborate decorations following an over-arching theme. Foreign locations were among the most common of these themes, thus – for many Victorians attending – a charity bazaar provided a chance to have first contact with objects from an exogenous culture.
Drawing upon newspaper articles and archive material, this seminar will investigate how Japan was represented in philanthropic events in the North East of England through the presence and consumption of Japanese goods. In response to the heightened fascination with Japan in the 1880s, charity bazaars started to be fitted up as a Japanese traditional village, coming to function for Victorians as an effective vehicle for imaginary travel and shaping their “tourist gaze.” With this regard, the stereotyped image of Japan disseminated by British decorators was instrumental in attracting a wide audience, transforming the “Orientalist” theme of Japanese Village into an appropriate setting to even promote very local endeavours such as charity campaigns which were completely unrelated to Japan, its culture, and its people. In addition, the common practice of wearing Japanese costumes by local volunteers also reveals that charity bazaars incorporated an ambivalent transcultural nature. While donning kimonos by British individuals in local events inevitably erased the Japanese body from the popular representation of Japan, it simultaneously contributed to naturalising the Asian “Otherness” in Britain, allowing stallholders in the North Eastto promote their public persona in line with the late Victorian, cosmopolitan taste and fashionability. In other words, this seminar will explore the way in which fundraising practices and voluntary activities played crucial roles as mediators between local communities and transnational trends such as the “Western” fascination with Japan.

Midnight Traveller: a Film Night with Tyneside Welcomes. Black Swan Centre, Newcastle
2021-12-09 19:00 - 23:00 | Black Swan Centre, Newcastle Arts Centre, 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SG
A showing of “Midnight Traveller”, a multi-award winning documentary film by Hassan Fazili filmed by the Fazili family as they document their journey from their home in Afghanistan to Europe seeking safety.
Details and Booking here.
The film will be followed by a live question and answer session with the director from Germany via zoom, and an opportunity to socialise.
Rotten Tomatoes gives this film 100%
This showing is organised by Tyneside Welcomes which works to resettle refugees from the Syrian War.

Tyneside Irish Centre (Zoom). Prof Marie Coleman will talk about: Who were the Black & Tans? The Crown Forces in Ireland during the War of Independence
2021-12-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Professor Coleman will look at all the different groupings within the Crown Forces – Army, RIC, Tans, Auxiliaries, B Specials etc. She is particularly keen to examine the social composition of the Tans and Auxiliaries in particular and will be covering the controversy over the commemoration plans in 2020.
Marie Coleman is Professor of Twentieth Century Irish History at Queen’s University, Belfast.
The event is part of the Tyneside Irish Centre’s series of 1921 Centenary talks.
Click here to register and get the zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_M9Su18K7Q-eF9qjqUbMa_w

The Society's Christmas Quiz
2021-12-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
The Society’s Christmas Quiz takes place next Tuesday 14 December at 7.00pm

Peter Brabban and Pat Candon will test your historical knowledge (to its limit) and after that you are welcome to stay for the ‘chat’.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84946680511?pwd=[REDACTED]

Meeting ID: 849 4668 0511

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Zoom now available: NELH Tuesday Meeting: Mike Barke will talk about his new book on the history of Newcastle: Mapping the City
2022-01-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86337404230?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 863 3740 4230
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Our first Tuesday meeting of the year will take place on 25 January at 7.00pm when Mike Barke will talk the history of Newcastle-upon-Tyne based on his new book, Mapping the City (co-authored with Brian Robson and Anthony Champion).
Newcastle has a long and distinguished history through two millennia: a Roman fortress at the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall; an important centre of monasticism; a ‘royal’ bulwark against attacks and invasion from Scotland; and the principal centre for the export of coal to London. In the 19th century it was transformed into an elegant Georgian townscape with dramatic streets and handsome public buildings.

It and other towns on the Tyne – Gateshead, Jarrow, Wallsend, Tynemouth, North and South Shields – developed important industries: shipbuilding, glass and heavy engineering. Tyneside suffered severe contraction in the 20th century as heavy industry declined, but it has begun to reinvent itself and create new growth shoots, not least its vibrant cultural industries including music and art.
This book takes an innovative approach to telling the story of the area’s history by focusing on the historic maps and plans that record the growth and development of Newcastle and Tyneside over many centuries.
Michael Barke was Reader in Human Geography at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he taught from 1974 until his retirement in 2016. His research interests include the demographic and urban history of the North East.

A link for the meeting will be posted nearer the time.

Morpeth Methodist Church: John Stirling will talk about William Morris
2022-01-29 10:00 - 12:30 | Morpeth Methodist Church, Howard Terrace, Morpeth, NE61 1HU
From Joanna Keith at the Workers Educational Association

We are putting on a course about William Morris in the Morpeth Methodist Church on Saturday 29 January from 10.00am to 12.30 pm. The speaker is John Stirling (Vice-Chair of the William Morris Society and NELHS Committee Member). There is a fee of £8.00, reductions available.
If any of your members in Morpeth (or anyone from North Tyneside, Newcastle or Northumberland) are interested they can enrol onto the course through this web link:-
https://enrolonline.wea.org.uk/Online/2021/CourseInfo.aspx?r=C2527581 or they can ring 0300 303 3464 if they prefer to enrol by telephone.

POSTPONED: Using Trade Union Banners for Education: The Case of the 1938 ‘Red’ Follonsby Miners’ Banner - a talk by Lucy Grimshaw (Northumbria University) and Lewis Mates (Durham University)
2022-02-15 19:00 - 20:30 | To be advised
From David Connolly, Secretary, North East Labour History Society:
To: NELHS Members and Supporters
Our apologies for the short notice but this is to let you know that we are postponing our Zoom meeting on Using Trade Union Banners for Education: The Case of the 1938 ‘Red’ Follonsby Miners’ Banner which was due to take place on Tuesday evening.
Both Lucy and Lewis are supporting the industrial action that their trade union UCU is taking tomorrow in defence of pensions, pay and conditions in the university sector.
There are ten days of strike action over the next three weeks and for more information about the dispute please see: https://www.ucu.org.uk/he2021 and https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11818/Four-fights-dispute-FAQs
I’m sure all expressions of support for the action would be appreciated.
In solidarity with the UCU.
David

This talk considers the use of trade union banners as tools for mainstream education in the context of the recent reclamation, recuperation, and re-articulation of industrial heritage taking place in localities in the former Durham coalfield, north-east England. It does so by focusing on the educational work undertaken by the Follonsby Miner’s Banner Association in partnership with a local primary school.
It is divided into four substantive sections. The first locates our approach theoretically, primarily in the rich pedagogical literature, while the second briefly contextualizes the Association and the school. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with teachers and activists, it offers a chronology of a project that, catalysed by the replica Follonsby miners’ banner, developed spontaneously in several exciting directions.
These included the school developing its own miners’-style banner, unveiled by the late Tony Benn, who featured on it. The third section offers some wider observations about the educational partnership and then considers the specific challenges that the Follonsby banner’s iconography posed in terms of teaching and how these were overcome.
Finally, we discuss legacies and lessons, arguing that the wider impacts of the project went far beyond the specific learning experience they offered the children involved. Here is the link:

Leeds University: Chartism Day 2022 in honour of Professor Malcolm Chase
2022-03-19 09:00 - 16:50 | University of Leeds
From the Society for the Study of Labour History
Chartism Day returns in March 2022 after an enforced absence of two years. This year’s event, held jointly with the Social History Society, is in honour of Professor Malcolm Chase, who died in February 2020. Malcolm was a great historian of Chartism, a stalwart of the Society for the Study of Labour History over many years, and a central figure at Chartism Days.
Chartism Day 2022: Register here to attend

Various locations: Wor Bella, Blyth Spartans Ladies. A play by Ed Waugh
2022-03-25 - 2022-04-03
Click on image for full size

Tyneside Irish Centre: Sylvia Topp, Remembering Eileen O'Shaughnessy
2022-03-25 19:30 - 21:00 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
In conjunction with the Orwell Society, we are hosting an in person meeting at the Tyneside Irish Centre, Friday 25 March at 7.30pm when Sylvia Topp will be in conversation with North East History editor, Rosie Serdiville about her recently published biography of Eileen O’Shaughnessy, Eileen: The Making of George Orwell. This meeting will also be livestreamed (see below).
Eileen was born in South Shields in 1905, married George Orwell in 1936 and sadly died in a Newcastle hospital at the relatively young age of forty.
Sylvia Topp has worked in publishing since college, starting as a copy writer on medical journals, then moving to freelancing editing at a major literary publishing houses.

She was the long-time wife and partner of Tuli Kupferberg, a Beat poet who later was a co-founder, in 1964, of the Fugs, a legendary rock and roll band. Together Sylvia and Tuli wrote, edited, and designed over thirty books and magazines, including As They Were, 1001 Ways to Live Without Working, and Yeah! magazine.

Sylvia joined the staff at The Soho Weekly News and later The Village Voice, before finishing her publishing career at Vanity Fair. Eileen is her first book. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.
The meeting will be livestreamed.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Mar 25, 2022 07:30 PM London
Topic: Eileen: A Life – a conversation with Sylvia Topp
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9gCrRs1XRWWA7RR6FrXJog
This is part of a visit by members of the Orwell Society who will be on Tyneside from 25 to 27 March to commemorate the life of Eileen O’Shaughnessy.

The Word, South Shields. Sylvia Topp will talk about her book Eileen: The Making of George Orwell
2022-03-26 14:00 - 15:30 | The Word, 45 Market Place, South Shields, NE33 1JF
BOOKING REQUIRED: BOOK HERE Suitable for ages 16+
Sylvia Topp, author of the novel Eileen: The Making of George Orwell, will be joining us at The Word to discuss her book which is the never before told story of George Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, a woman born in South Shields who shaped, supported and even saved the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.
The event will also include Jarrow-born Tom Kelly ‘in conversation’ with Richard Blair, the adopted son of author George Orwell and patron of the Orwell Society, and there will be an opportunity for the audience to ask their questions.
During the event, there will be a showing of Gary Wilkinson’s Wildflower film, about Eileen O’Shaughnessy, and Tom Kelly will also read his poem about Eileen, titled You, you, you.
Copies of Sylvia’s book will be available to buy at the event.
The event has been planned with The Word by The Orwell Society whose members are in South Shields for a weekend of events originally scheduled for March 2020, which would have been the 75th anniversary of Eileen’s sadly premature death.
The Orwell Society is at https://orwellsociety.com/

NOW INVITATION ONLY: South Shields: Unveiling of a Blue Plaque for Eileen O'Shaughnessy
2022-03-27 11:00 - 12:00
Apologies for this change of plan. This unveiling is now by invitation only as space is limited.

Northern Stage, Newcastle: Red Ellen - The Story of Ellen Wilkinson MP
2022-03-29 - 2022-04-10 | Northern Stage, Barras BridgeNE1 7RH, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RH
“A working class woman inside the walls of Westminster? If that is not espionage, I do not know what is.“
A Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse & Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh production
Booking details here

This remarkable new play from Caroline Bird tells the inspiring and epic story of Ellen Wilkinson, Labour MP, who was forever on the right side of history, forever on the wrong side of life.
Caught between revolutionary and parliamentary politics, Ellen fights with an unstoppable, reckless energy for a better world. Running (quite literally in some cases) into the likes of Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway, she battles to save Jewish refugees in Nazi Germany; campaigns for Britain to aid the fight against Franco’s Fascists in Spain; and leads 200 workers in the Jarrow Crusade, marching from Newcastle through Nottingham and the Midlands, all the way to London delivering a petition to reduce unemployment and poverty. She serves as a vital member of Churchill’s cabinet, and has affairs with communist spies and government ministers. But, despite all of this, she still finds herself – somehow – on the outside looking in.​
This is the story of Ellen Wilkinson.
There is more than one way to kill a revolutionary…
Preview performances: Tue 29 – Thu 31 Mar
Preview performances give audiences the opportunity to be one of the first to see a new show. During previews, the show is still being developed and changes may still be made ahead of the official press night. As the show is still being developed, tickets are a little cheaper than our regular prices. We will always try to give you the best experience no matter what show you attend but if there are a few hitches on the night then we appreciate your patience and goodwill while we polish the show.

First Tuesday. Dr Christopher Massey, Teesside University will talk about: The Man at the Back: Lord Tom Sawyer and the modernisation of the Labour Party
2022-04-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
‘The Man at the Back: Lord Tom Sawyer and the modernisation of the Labour Party’ with Dr. Christopher Massey
This talk highlights the significant contribution of Lord Tom Sawyer to the Labour Party’s modernisation between 1983 and 1997. Sawyer, as a key trade union official and later General Secretary of the Labour Party, played a crucial role in the redevelopment of Labour’s internal structures, policy making and campaign machinery.
Sawyer’s political journey in these years closely mirrored Labour’s national position, shifting from the hard-left towards the centre-left. His contributions to Labour’s renewal included vital roles during the Inquiry into the Militant Tendency in Liverpool (1986), the party’s Policy Review (1987-92), the shift to One Member, One Vote (1993), the change to Clause IV of Labour’s Constitution (1995), and Partnership in Power (1997).
Through such input, Sawyer played a crucial, and often undocumented, role in the modernisation which led towards the party’s 1997 general election victory.
Christopher Massey is the Principal Lecturer for Programmes within Humanities and Social Science at Teesside University. His research focuses on the Labour Party and the labour movement. His recent work includes the official biography of Lord Tom Sawyer, The Man at the Back, and a 2020 monograph, ‘The Modernisation of the Labour Party, 1979-97.’
He was elected as a Councillor for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in 2011, and was Deputy Leader between 2017 and 2019.
Here’s the link:
Topic: Tom Sawyer and the Labour Party
Time: Apr 5, 2022 07:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89729662565?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 897 2966 2565
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Tyne & Wear May Day Celebrations: May Day Social (Newcastle Irish Centre, Fri 29 April), March and Rally (Exhibition Park, Sat 30 April)
2022-04-29 - 2022-05-01 | Various North East Venues
Please click on the image to enlarge it.

BBC Radio 3: The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff
2022-05-01 19:30 - 20:30 | BBC Radio 3
Award-winning North East folk band The Young’uns – Sean Cooney and David Eagle with Jack Rutter (for Michael Hughes) present their production of The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff, recorded in front of a live audience in their hometown of Stockton-on-Tees.
It’s the true story of one man’s journey from unemployment, through the Hunger Marches of the 1930s, the mass trespass movement, and the Battle of Cable Street, to fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. A touching and often hilarious musical adventure, its themes of war, hunger, poverty, and displacement have a powerful resonance almost a hundred years on.
To be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on the 1 May 2022 at 7.30pm – UK time.

First Tuesday: 'Hidden Chains: The Slavery Business and North East England' with John Charlton
2022-05-03 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
North East England is rarely associated with the African slave trade, but new research has shown that the region was inextricably involved in that shocking state-sanctioned traffic in human beings. “Hidden Chains” reveals the links between some of the North East’s wealthiest, most prominent families and the plantations of the New World. It also tells the story of ordinary people from Northumberland, Durham and Tyneside who were caught up in the slavery business.
Some were bonded labourers; others crossed the Atlantic on ships carrying human cargo, returning with tobacco, sugar, rum and other profitable goods. At the same time the North East’s men and women were playing a determined part in the anti-slavery movement and their vital contribution to abolition is also explored.
John is a member of the NELHS Committee and Editorial Board.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85154499646?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 851 5449 9646
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Durham Town Hall, The Miners’ Strike in County Durham: A Family and Community Conversation
2022-05-24 18:00 - 19:30 | Durham Town Hall, Market Place, Durham, DH1 3NJ
Register here for tickets to attend in person or here to join online via Zoom.
A free public event hosted by Durham University History Department.
Although the Miners’ Strike took place nearly forty years ago, the families and communities that experienced it in County Durham still have vivid memories of that year and have had to wrestle in their lives with the destruction of an industry.
This event features historian Robert Gildea, who is writing an oral history of the strike, in conversation with one of the families he interviewed. David Wray was an electrician at Sacriston during the strike. He and his wife Dorothy ran a soup kitchen in Leadgate and their daughter Sam, a teenager at the time, enjoyed the visits of musicians who helped to raise funds for striking families. They will be joined by Sam’s daughter, Caitlin, now a student at Newcastle University, who speaks for a third generation that has been shaped by the strike.
Following a conversation with the family the floor with be open to members of the audience who would like to share their own memories of the strike and its legacy.
Robert Gildea is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Oxford. His most recent book is Empires of the Mind: The Colonial Past and the Politics of the Present (2019), and he has published many books on modern European and transnational history, especially on the Second World War and Europe’s 1968. His work has been awarded the Wolfson Prize for History.
With thanks to Tom Hamilton, Associate Professor, History Department, Durham University.

Event commemorating Nigel Todd, Bike Garden, Nuns Moor, Newcastle
2022-06-18 12:00 - 15:00 | Bike Garden, Nuns Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5NU
Nigel, with his daughter Selina, on an anti-austerity march in Manchester, 4th October 2015. Photograph courtesy Peter Brabban.
Music by Bethany Elen Coyle and pizzas from the pizza oven. Opportunity to share memories about Nigel and his work in the community. Open to all.
The bike garden is located in Nuns Moor Park here: https://goo.gl/maps/Q1LwGLu3ZRZxmJT96

The Active Utopian: A Celebration of The Work and Passions of Nigel Todd, Neville Hall, Newcastle
2022-06-20 10:00 - 15:00 | Common Room, Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SE
Nigel Todd
Friends and colleagues of Nigel will gather on 20th June to celebrate his life, his work and most of all his passion for progress, social justice and lifelong learning.
North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll, will give the keynote address and there will be local and national speakers from the Workers Education Association, Co-operative College, Newcastle City Council, the Green movement and other parts of Nigel’s life. There will be music, a slide show from his 1983 General Election campaign and a memory board, as well as an opportunity for reunions with old friends and making new ones.
This will be a joyous occasion, following-on from and in the same spirit as the community event in his memory which will happen at the Bike Garden, Nuns Moor on Saturday 18th June.
Sold out. Check here for any places that may become available from cancellations.

Programme

There will be a memory board. If you have anything you would like to put on it please contact silviefish@yahoo.com
9:30 Coffee
10.00 Welcome and Introduction: Chairs for the day, Liz O’Donnell and Kath Connolly
10:05 Keynote Speaker. Jamie Driscoll, North of Tyne Mayor
10:15 Workers’ Education Association
Keith Hodgson. Chair NE Region WEA, formerly NUPE/UNISON Education Officer
Jude Murphy. WEA Education Co-ordinator, Musician and Historian
Anne Staines. WEA Regional Education Manager – retired
Simon Parkinson. General Secretary & Chief Executive at WEA
10:45 Nigel’s Centenary Commission colleagues
Centenary Commission on Adult Education, John Holford. Robert Peers Professor of Adult Education, University of Nottingham
Nigel’s work on Raymond Williams and the New Diggers. Sharon Clancy, Assistant Professor of Education, Nottingham University
Building community, democracy and dialogue. Iain Jones. Associate Lecturer, The Open University
11:05 WEA Green Network: Ruth Hayward. Co-founder WEA North East Green Branch
11:15 Discussion and Q&A of WEA topics
11:30 Coffee
11:45 Nigel’s Political Activism, Internationalism, Palestine, Kashmir, Bangladesh, Ann Schofield. Internationalist and Political Activist
12:05 Greening Wingrove: Dave Webb. Director, Greening Wingrove
12:25 Slide show of Nigel’s 1983 GE campaign. Peter Brabban, Professional Photographer
12:45 Lunch: Ordinary Heroes. WW1 Documentary
Rochdale Pioneers Songs (recorded)
13:30 Irim Ali. Chair of Greening Wingrove
13:50 Joseph Cowen and the Chronicle. Andy McSmith. Journalist and Author
14:10 The Co-operative college. Hazel Johnson. Co-operative college trustee
14:30 Round Table:
Matt Perry. Historian, Newcastle University
Charlotte Alston. Historian, University of Northumbria
Simon Parkinson. General Secretary & Chief Executive at WEA
15:00 Close and songs from Bethany Elen Coyle with Jude Murphy
About
This is a collaborative event by the Workers’ Educational Association, the Co-operative College, The Labour and Society Research Group at Newcastle University and the North East Labour History Society
Our thanks to the Workers’ Educational Association for their generous sponsorship of this event
