Wednesday 30 November 2011

N30 In Stoke - Video & Speeches (1)

This is one of the speeches from the N30 Rally in stoke today. It was a moving speech by the daughter of the late John Urwin, who died in September. John was a good comrade who I first met just before the beginning of the 1984 Miners Strike. He was an electrician at Hem Heath Colliery, and I was with him in Hem Heath Club on the day that Miners there voted to come out on strike. Later after going to University, he became a lecturer in the TU Studies Department at Stoke College, where I met up with him again as a UNISON Branch Secretary, when I was trying to ensure that all of our stewards were properly trained. In fact, John's son was also one of my members, and even as a young man, he showed the same commitment to standing up for his rights.

In another speech I will be uploading soon, one of John's fellow lecturers, Ron Foulkes, who had been T&G Convenor at the local Rists factory, and who was also a Councillor from my old LP Branch, takes up this idea in a quote from Robert Tressle's "Ragged Trousered Philanthropists", talking about the role we all have to play in acting to make a difference.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Message to inform that the above information about Dad being imprisoned for torching Scab Buses is not true. My Dad was arrested during the Strike but completely unrelated to the buses. Boffy - could you please amend the information.

Yours
Craig Urwin

Boffy said...

Craig,

I'm very, very sorry about that. Of course I will immediately amend that information. Hope you are well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the amendment - appreciate it.

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