This tribute by nephew Neil Cooney was given on 15 August 2024 at a celebration held in Aberdeen on the 40th anniversary of Bob Cooney’s death. Bob Cooney was born in Sunderland on 12 November 1907, the seventh and last child of an ambitious Aberdeen family. His father, Sandy, a cooper, moved around the country […]
Andy Jones reports from the annual No Pasarán Memorial Committee North Lanarkshire commemoration … The No Pasarán Memorial Committee North Lanarkshire held its annual memorial on Sunday 28 July in the Duchess of Hamilton Park Motherwell. A large crowd attended the event. Committee members Frankie McGuinness Jim Baxter, John Milligan, Brian Molloy and Andy Jones. […]
Betty Birch, who died on 16 August 2024 at the age of 94, was a leading anti-Franco activist during the postwar years and was a founder member of the IBMT. She campaigned on behalf of Spanish political prisoners and was the first chair of the Aid to Spanish Youth Committee. She was born Betty Andrew […]
Enter the IBMT's annual online raffle for a chance to win fantastic prizes and support the Trust's commemorative and educational work. First prize is £500 towards a weekend in Madrid and a guided tour of the Prado museum for two (subject to availability). There are two second prizes of six bottles of fine Spanish wine. […]
Lynda Walker of the International Brigade Commemoration Committee (IBCC) writes… On Friday 9 August the IBCC held its annual event as part of the Féile an Phobail (People’s Festival) in the Shankill Road Library. This year the topic was about the medics who provided vital support for those who were injured and dying in the […]
The IBMT’s 2024 AGM will be held on 5 October from 2.30pm-4pm in The Stable Games Room, 129 High St, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1HN. All members can attend and take part in proceedings. The AGM is part of a weekend of commemorative, educational and social activities in Weston-super-Mare and Bristol from the evening of Friday 4 […]
Jim Jump reviews ‘Spanish Sky Spreads Its Stars: The story of the Thälmann Battalion and the first Germans in armed struggle against fascism’ by Ewald P Schulz (International Brigade Commemoration Committee, Belfast, 2024). More than 4,000 Germans fought in the International Brigades or in the anti-fascist militias and other Spanish military units during the Spanish […]
The Madrid-based AABI Friends of the International Brigades have announced the programme for the 2025 Jarama commemoration, which will be dedicated to the Lincoln Battalion volunteers… Thursday 20 FebruaryMadrid7pm: ’The Volunteers’, a one-act play in four scenes written by Charles Nusser of the Lincoln Battalion. Centro Cultural de la Mujer, 19 Cayetano Pando, Madrid 28047. […]
With the eyes of the world on Paris for the Olympics, we look back at David Ebsworth's 2021 article in which he explains the inspiration for ‘A Betrayal of Heroes’, his thriller about Jack Telford and the Spanish Republicans who continued the fight against fascism. As an author of historical fiction, none of the periods […]
This is the 86th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Ebro. Conceived and meticulously planned by General Vicente Rojo, it began with the crossing of the Ebro River into fascist territory on 24/25 July 1938 and ended with the remnants of the Republican army retreating back across the Ebro in November 1938. […]
The IBMT's commemoration at the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee Gardens on London's South Bank on Saturday 6 July saw speeches by PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote and historian Richard Baxell. As is customary and led by IBMT President Marlene Sidaway, wreaths were laid and there was a minute's silence in honour of the more […]
There will be a talk in Belfast on 9 August on Sligo-born nurse Ruth Ormsby and on medical aid from Ireland and elsewhere in the Spanish Civil War. The speaker will be Johnny Gogan and the event will be chaired by Unison Regional Secretary Patricia McKeown. It is being organised by the IBMT-affiliated International Brigade […]
