International Brigade Memorial Trust
We hope that all our supporters will join us on 10 June at 12 noon at the junction of Headington Hill and Morrell Avenue, Oxford, to celebrate the unveiling of the memorial to the Oxfordshire volunteers of the International Brigades.
As well as the unveiling by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr Christine Simm, we are holding a weekend of events to which all are invited. Read on to find out more…
On 9 June (the evening before the unveiling) we are holding a public meeting at the Friends’ Meeting House, St Giles, Oxford City Centre, at 8pm (doors open at 7.30pm). The list of celebrated speakers includes David Boyd Haycock, author of 'I Am Spain'; Richard Baxell, Chair of the IBMT and author of ‘Unlikely Warriors’; Valentine Cunningham, Emeritus Professor at Corpus Christi, Oxford, and editor of ‘The Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse’; and Carmen Negrín, grand-daughter of Juan Negrín, the last prime minister of the Spanish Republic.
Tickets are £5 on the door or £4 in advance (details below).
Finally, we celebrate on the evening of the unveiling with a concert with a star-studded cast of performers at the West Oxford Community Centre on Botley Road, Oxford, just five minutes walk from the railway station. This is a not-to-be-missed event, with folk group Na-mara, whose singer songwriter Paul McNamara has long associations with Spain, the Camino del Flamenco Spanish dance group, Oxford’s very own Cuban/Latin American Ran Kan Kan, who are guaranteed to ‘raise the roof’ and inspire us all, as well a reading of La Pasionaria's iconic farewell speech to the International Brigades in Barcelona on 28 October 1938.
The music is from 7,45pm to 11.30pm, with the bar open from 7pm.
Tickets for the public meeting on 9 June are £5 on the door or £4 in advance from John Haywood, 1 Queens Close, Banbury OX16 0EB by cheque payable to IBMT with SAE please. You can email John at ajhaywood92@gmail.com to reserve on-the-door tickets or you can telephone 07785 235715.
Likewise, tickets for the concert on 10 June are priced £20 at the door, or £15 if before 5 June, again from John Haywood, 1 Queens Road, Banbury, OX16 0EB by cheque payable to IBMT with SAE please. Or you can reserve tickets at on-the door prices by email to John at ajhaywood92@gmail.com or you can telephone 07785 235715.
Many supporters will be travelling long distances and if any local Oxford people can help with accommodation please email John at ajhaywood92@gmail.com to offer a room for the night.
Please do promote our public meeting, our memorial unveiling and our evening of celebratory music and dancing to your friends and neighbours and on social media.
But whatever you do, don't miss it – any of it!
Posted on 1 May 2017. Updated on 4 June.
