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Shrewsbury 24 campaign
The Road to the Court of Appeal
Pickets Victory Celebration
On Sunday 26 September the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, the Shrewsbury pickets and their families were finally able to celebrate the magnificent victory at the Court of Appeal on 23 March 2021 when all the pickets’ convictions were quashed. The celebration, at St David’s Hotel, Ewloe, had been postponed from June, due to Wales’s continuing Covid regulations restricting indoor gatherings.
Group photo of the attendees at the victory celebration, September 2021.
We began the afternoon with a showing of the 1974 film, Free the Six, by Jeff Perks and Michael Rosen to remind us all of the dreadful conditions that prevailed on building sites in the 1970’s. The film also included contemporaneous interviews with the pickets’ families. Later we watched a warm message from Elsa Warren, who explained what Des Warren went through when he was given the longest prison sentence of three years. The video of Ian Prowse singing Alun Parry’s song, My name is Dessie Warren, was inspiring and got many of us singing along with it.
The most emotional part of the afternoon was when the pickets spoke about what they went through in 1973-74. Particularly moving was hearing, for the first time, family members speaking about what it was like for them. Heartbreaking stories such as being told by kids in the school playground that their dad was in jail. Feeling a sense of shame about their dad throughout their lives. But worst of all, not knowing what really happened, as none of the pickets would ever talk about it. This celebration helped to open the door to the truth: that their dads/grandads/ husbands/ brothers/ uncles were not guilty of the charges that were so wrongly brought against them. They were trade unionists standing up for their rights and those of fellow building workers against ruthless employers.
There were many tears but also much laughter, as pickets’ families met each other for the first time. Many of them had known each other within North Wales over the years but were unaware of what connected them – they were all related to a Shrewsbury picket!
The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign left the celebratory event with a sense of pride and satisfaction in the knowledge that we had stood with the pickets and never gave up the fight for justice. We had helped to bring so much happiness to so many people.
The pickets had achieved the justice they deserved. We never gave up – and we won!
Celebration in Shrewsbury
Shropshire and Telford Trades Council put on a marvellous celebratory event for the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign and pickets on Saturday 2 October. The Trades Council officers Gemma Offland, Ash Silverstone and Brett Davies, together with former secretary Mike Edwards, led local trade unionists with their banners in greeting us at Shrewsbury train station. We marched the short distance to the venue, St Nicholas Community Centre, displaying our specially made banner declaring, “Shrewsbury 24 Campaign – WE WON”.
Brett introduced the afternoon’s festivities by describing the support that the Trades Council has given to the Campaign and the pickets over the years. Brett, Mike and others had been with us in Birmingham when we submitted the pickets’ application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s office on the 3 April 2012 in Birmingham. They have stayed with us through thick and thin ever since.
Brett congratulated us all on our tenacity, resilience and staunch trade union principles. He described the joy that all the delegates felt when they heard that we had won the case at the Court of Appeal. He applauded that, “The pickets and the campaign never gave up and have succeeded, not just for the pickets but the whole trade union and labour movement.”
Jeremy Corbyn praised the pickets and the Campaign and congratulated Eileen Turnbull on her tremendous work as the Campaign’s researcher. He highlighted her determination and stamina in travelling the country to obtain evidence that was used by Bindmans solicitors and Danny Friedman QC to secure a tremendous victory for the pickets in the Court of Appeal.
During the afternoon there were also speeches from Terry Renshaw, POA General Secretary Steve Gillan and Rob Williams of the NSSN. Singer-songwriter Ian Prowse made a guest appearance to sing My Name is Dessie Warren.
The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign and pickets wish to thank Shropshire and Telford Trades Council for arranging such a brilliant and memorable day. Your support will never be forgotten.
Leading the march through Shrewsbury to the celebratory event organised by Shropshire & Telford Trades Council, Saturday 2 October.
Building worker pickets (back row L-R) Bernard Williams, Kevin Butcher, Michael Pierce, Terry Renshaw and Ken O’Shea, (front row, L-R) Dawn and Melanie McKinsie Jones, Eileen Turnbull (Researcher) and Harry Chadwick (Chairperson).
Buy Des Warren’s book The Key to my Cell for £4 inc, p&p on the Merchandise page.
Important Updates
25/06/2022 – Today’s weekend edition of the Morning Star has an article by our Researcher/Secretary Eileen Turnbull to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the national building workers strike on 26 June 1972. Read more.
If you require any further information about the appeal hearing or the Campaign please email us at: 24@shrewsbury24campaign.org.uk.
Ian Prowse has made a video for the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign of his cover of Alun Parry’s song My Name Is Dessie Warren. Read more…
Solidarity with Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign
The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign extends it support to the OTJC in their call for an Orgreave Independent Panel to be set up along the lines of the landmark Hillsborough Independent Panel.
These principled campaigners have worked tirelessly for years to uncover the truth about the events at the picket at Orgreave on 18 June 1984. On that day hundreds of miners were attacked and beaten by an army of police, including a mounted unit that charged down with batons on unarmed striking miners causing devastating injuries. The trial of the 95 miners that were arrested on that day collapsed when the union lawyers showed that the police evidence had been fabricated. The campaign wants to know the truth: who planned and gave the orders for the police attack on defenceless miners, who orchestrated the prosecutions. Without Truth there can be no Justice.
Further details can be found on the OTJC website.
Eileen Turnbull -Researcher & Secretary
Harry Chadwick – Chairperson
The Campaign
The Strike
The Pickets
