Watch…..We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks one of the most fascinating stories in recent years has to be that of Wikilleaks a website set up to expose the deepest and dirtiest secrets of the USA. Julian Assange is now holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and Bradley Manning is on trial in the USA. Who are these people and why did they decide to challenge the imperial power of the USA? Make your own mind up by watching this fascinating film. See
Go to……a. festival of plays at the Black Lion in Salford from 8th-14th July in their Nowt Part Of’ Festival. Throughout the week there will be new drama, including one of my favourites Confessions of a Waitress by Stephanie Claire. It is great to see so much homegrown theatre but a bit worrying in terms of audiences – are there enough punters for the Nowt as well as Greater. Manchester Fringe and 24/7? Only time will tell…………support your local fringe theatre not the MIF!! More details see
Learn about your history….Michael Herbert, of Red Flag Walks, will leading two walks this month to mark the centenary of the Women’s Pilgrimage in July 1913, which was organised by the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, led by Mrs Fawcett. The pilgrimage began in Carlisle and went south towards London with feeder marches from other parts of the country joining in. The Manchester contingent set out from Albert Square on 5 July.. The women, and some men, marched four–abreast , making their way out of Manchester along Stockport Road, where many gathered to watch them go by. On 26 July, at the end of the pilgrimage, a mass meeting was held in Hyde Park, attended by many thousands.
Saturday 13 July 1.45 pm “Manchester First in the Fight”: Votes for Women, 1866 – 1928
Meeting point: Friends Meeting House, Mount Street
This walk will tell the story of the campaign for “Votes for Women” in which Manchester played a major role. We will encounter a number of the leading figures of the suffragist and suffragette movement including Lydia Becker, Esther Roper, Teresa Billington, Eva Gore-Booth, Nellie Keenan, Annie Kenney, Mabel Capper, Annot Robinson, Hannah Mitchell and the Pankhurst family. £6/£5.
Sunday 14 July, 11.30am “Up Then Brave Women”: Manchester’s radical women
Meeting point: Co-operative Bank, Corporation Street.
This walk will look at the role of women in Manchester’s radical movements include Co-operative Women’s Guild, Socialist women, Mary and Lizzy Burns, women writers on the Manchester Guardian, Mrs Gaskell, the Manchester Society of Women Artists and women at Peterloo. £6/£5
This walk is taking place in partnership with the equals project, organised by the Blankmedia Collective. equals will explore feminism through art and conversation. It will run from 11th to 28th July and will include an art exhibition, a book and a number of other events. More information see
Places on the walks can be reserved in advance by emailing : redflagwalks@gmail.com. The Red Flag Walks website can be found at http://redflagwalks.wordpress.com.
Read,,,,,, Jim Larkin and the Great Dublin Lockout of 1913 by John Newsinger. John says; “The Lockout was one of the most important industrial struggles in British History” but also in the history of Ireland. Dublin workers went on strike for six months and they were supported by workers in this country. They were led by Jim Larkin, leader of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, which was one of the most militant trade unions of its era. They were some of the poorest paid workers and were living in some of the worst conditions and maybe because they had nothing to lose they decided to take on not just the employers but the government, press, the RC Church and the courts. Read their story in this brilliant new account on the centenary of the Lockout and its only £4!! Buy it from Bookmarks
Help the Bedroom Tax campaign…..by joining Dingle Community Theatre in an evening of drama, verse and song against the bedroom tax. Half of all takings on the door will go to local BT campaigns and north west, venues are 20 July at Moston Miners and Black Lion Pub in Salford on 21 July. Entrance fee only £2/3! only! Further details see
