Watch…CRICFEST..at Moston Small Cinema a festival of cricket inspired films. Including Out Of The Ashes a film about the Afghan cricket team ( I didn’t realise they had one) and their hopes of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup. The documentary shows the team going from from playing in their shalwar-kameezes on rubble pitches to batting their way around the globe and up the international league tables. Jack Rosenthal’s film P’Tang Yang Kipperbang, first shown on Channel 4 in 1982, is the story of a young boy obsessed with cricket and his first kiss. The title is the password used by the members of the young boy’s gang. Set in London in 1948, it seems a completely different world from today.

Go see…another play by Jack Rosenthal Big Sid, about a disgruntled retired cricketer struggling to cope with life, to tie in with The Ashes. Performed by Colin Connor, writer of Meanwhile and director of Best, catch it at the Lass O’Gowrie from 31 July to 4 August as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe

Look at….the monument to the miners from Agecroft Colliery on Agecroft Road, Salford. The Irwell Valley Mining Project have refused to allow the history of the miners and their families to be wiped off the map of Salford. The monument, built by students at Salford College, is the first part of their project to remember this important part of our collective history. It will be followed on 7 September by the unveiling of an exhibition at St.Augustine’s church in Pendlebury and the publication of Paul Kelly’s history The Last Pit in the Valley. Further details see

Find out about…the WCML is presenting an exhibition to coincide with the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine, which is being held at the University of Manchester, to echo its theme Knowledge at Work. This highlights topics such as the contributions that scientists have made to the peace movement, campaigns to improve public health and the struggles that trade unions and others have undertaken to make the workplace a safer place. The WCML has created an exhibition Knowledge, work and workers – science and the working class which celebrates those working class people who have made an important contribution to science such as the whitesmith Samuel Gibson who, although his formal education was limited to Sunday School, became a respected geologist, botanist and entomologist. Further details see

Read…..a fascinating book about black working class heroes…Black British Rebels Figures from Working Class History by Hassan Mahamdallie. A book that reminds us that black people have been part of the radical history of this country from the 1750s to the 1970s. Featuring women and men who played a role in organisations from the campaign against slavery to the fight for trade union rights. Only one person missing is Manchester boxer and activist Len Johnson who was an important figure in the history of working class history in the northwest. Hassan’s book is only £3 and can be purchased from radical bookshop bookmarks see