Alicante remembers

Spain-based IBMT member Malcolm Hardy reports from Alicante that at the end of March there was a week of events commemorating thee 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War. The events were organised by the Comisión Cívica para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica and culminated in a celebration of the rescue ship, the Stanbrook, in Alicante port.

The commemoration was covered in the local Spanish and English language press that covered the Stanbrook event, along with other aspects of the impact of the fall of Alicante to Franco’s fascist army. 

The Dickson memorial on Alicante harbour was vandalised prior to the event by Falangists (Spanish Fascists), but the local council promptly cleaned it up for the day’s commemoration.

IBMT members may recall that a group of IBMT and Labour International members here in Spain assisted a delegation from Alicante to present a plaque to Cardiff City Council to celebrate the heroism of Captain Archibald Dickson of the Stanbrook in April 2015. Welsh Assembly Member Mick Antoniw pledged at the IBMT’s Annual General Meeting in Cardiff in 2017 that the plaque would be prominently displayed.

Mick arranged for the Wales First Minister, Mark Drakeford, to send a message to the Alicante event, which was read out by the UK’s Vice Consul, Sara Munsterhjelm (see copy below).

Posted on 16 April 2019.