International Brigade Memorial Trust
International Brigader Charlie Hutchison is now remembered in Witney, the Oxfordshire Cotswolds town where he was born. His story is told in a mural (above) in Coffee#1, a new café that has opened at 15 Market Square (Witney OX28 6AB).
Hutchison has the distinction of being the only known mixed-race member of the British Battalion in Spain, in which there was also a small number of volunteers from the Middle East and India. His father came from what is modern-day Ghana and his mother was from Eynsham, a village near Witney. Hutchison, a 'working class action hero' according to the mural, was living and working as a lorry driver in Fulham, west London, when he joined the International Brigades. A member of the Young Communist League, he served in Spain for two years. The mural was 'unveiled' on 8 October, when the cafe first opened its doors to the public. Members of the IBMT-affiliated Oxfordshire International Brigade Memorial Committee are delighted with the new memorial and are arranging a visit to the café.
Posted on 20 October 2021.
