International Brigade Memorial Trust
By Ed Stutt, the Director of Hebden Bridge Trades Club
Hebden Bridge Trades Club was privileged to host the IBMT ‘Antifascistas’ exhibition, which generated a lot of interest over the four days that it was on display from 9-12 Octobr. We even had a visit from the granddaughter of International Brigade volunteer Bernard McKenna, who brought in a newspaper clipping about him (which we attached to the exhibition) and said how happy she was that people were still recognising the efforts of the volunteers who went to fight in Spain.
On the evening of Wednesday 12 October the Trades Club held its own No Pasarán night to mark 2016 as the 80th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War and remember the sacrifices of the volunteers in the International Brigades. Marshall Mateer (Film Co-ordinator for the IBMT) showed a film montage of archive footage and commemorative events. Local artist Simon Manfield gave an illustrated talk about his experience as a documentary illustrator at the excavation of a Spanish Civil War-era mass grave in the village of Valdediós, Asturias, in the summer of 2003. The presentation, entitled Memoria Histórica, was a moving testament to the small community as it began the long and painful process of rediscovery, revealing the fate of friends, relatives and the horrors of the civil war.
The packed audience were also treated to stories, poems and songs about the Spanish Civil War from the History Troupe and Hillbilly Troupe. This part of the evening was in parts informative, moving and entertaining and the crowd joined in an excellent rendition of ‘The Internationale’.
Those attending the evening were also able to view the exhibition before and after the events from the stage and we received a lot of extremely positive feedback from people who were happy that the Trades Club had put on this event to remember the International Brigade volunteers.
Calderdale Trades Union Council tweeted: ‘Power to @thetradesclub for excellent International Brigade Commemoration event’
Renowned folk singer Steve Tilston was in attendance and commended everyone involved on a memorable evening.
Posted on 11 Novermber 2016.
