Rob Hargreaves welcomes the Oldham memorial back to its rightful home…

Oldham’s moving memorial to the town’s fallen International Brigade heroes has come home at last.

Thanks to the painstaking efforts of North West International Brigade Memorial Group, the memorial to six Oldham volunteers killed in Spain is back on display, enjoying pride of place in the newly refurbished civic centre.

The Oldam memorial, home at last.

It took two years of patient negotiations with officials by local stalwart Graham Briggs to get the memorial reinstated after a period of exile from the town hall. Said Graham, ‘Although it was originally commissioned by Oldham Council in 1986, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the memorial has enjoyed mixed fortunes since then.’

Brigader Joe Lees’s descendants, Sue Critchley and Andrew Spence, with Graham Briggs.

Founding IBMT member Hilary Jones, whose father Sam Wild sustained four bullet wounds at the Battle of Jarama, fighting alongside Oldhamer Clem Beckett, recalled that at one time the memorial – beautifully crafted by Holmfirth sculptor Jim Robison – had been relegated to a cellar, where for years it lay covered in dust and cobwebs.

In 2014, it was rescued by the parish church of St Mary with St Peter, whose Catalan-speaking priest promised grateful IBMT members that the memorial would be offered sanctuary and displayed in the church.

At a re-dedication ceremony in the civic centre on 29 November, IBMT member Rob Hargreaves thanked the church for its custodianship, and in particular, long-standing friend of the North West International Brigade Memorial Group, Canon Daniel Burton, for the church’s help.

Rob Hargreaves presents a copy of his biography of Clem Becket to the Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Eddie Moores.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham, Councillor Eddie Moores and wife Kath, presided over the well-attended ceremony. In appreciation of the Council’s facilitating the return of the memorial, they were presented with a copy of Rob’s biography of Clem Beckett. Rob told listeners:

‘Nowhere in Britain was the cry of ¡No Pasaran! taken up more passionately or more determinedly than by the people of Oldham.’

Images of the 10 Oldham men: Cliff Wolstencroft, Billy Jackson, Harry Heap, Clem Beckett, Ken Bradbury and Joe Lees, who did not return home; and Albert Charlesworth, Joe Buckley, Charlie Hanson and Charlie Armitage, who survived.

Special guests at the event were Sue Critchley and Andrew Spence, proud descendants of Oldhamer Joe Lees, killed at Brunete.

Speaking after the ceremony, Graham paid tribute to Oldham’s principal heritage officer, Sean Bagguley, for his support in bringing the memorial ‘home’.