Watch

Black Ice...a screening of a very important documentary by Manchester Film Coop and Manchester Greenpeace. Greenpeace decided to challenge the drilling of oil in the Arctic Ocean. The Russian government responded as you would expect of any country determined to protect their energy resources. The 30 crew members were arrested and threatened with 15 years in prison. Find out more from one of the Arctic 30 after the screening. More details of the event at
Read

Wisdom of Our Own Living and Learning Since the Miners Strike. Do you wonder about what happened to the miners’ wives after the 1984/5 strike? This book tells you the story of the women from Castleford in Yorkshire. The strike gave the women a tremendous boost to their self confidence and showed how they could organise themselves and their community against tremendous odds. After the strike ended some of the women decided to set up a women’s centre which went onto to become an adult learning college. This is how they did it. The key to the success of their centre is simple; they started from the basis of what do we want in terms of education and learning. As they recounted; “After the strike, many of the women in the Castleford district who had come together to defend their families and community wanted to stick together as a kind of self help group…..From the start they decided they wanted to learn.” They raised money for their Centre by selling memorabilia from the strike at a market stall which they used to do up a dilapidated house in the centre of the town. How they physically rebuilt the centre and started the courses is told by over 100 people who tell their stories in the book. It is a fascinating read and shows how working class people can make a difference to their community.
Published by the Castleford Community Learning Centre see

Go

to  some political theatre at Unity Theatre in Liverpool..lucky scousers! They say; This election week we’ve teamed up with producers Chateina Pl to bring you exceptional theatre & debate going beyond party politics and deep into the issues we really care about. Alongside this we’ll be presenting 4 brand new short pieces  from our favourite Liverpool voices: The Ballot Box Ballads. Further info see

Look

at an exhibition at Adlington Library in Chorley “Heath Charnock’s Green Men” 15th May- 12thJune. During the Second World War Spanish men who fought against Franco and then escaped to Britain were interned in camps like this one in Lancashire. This is the story of one group of men. Read this article about why anti-fascists were interned as well as Nazi supporters. See
Details of venue see

Support

sacked Bolton University trade unionists at a demo in the Town Hall square in Bolton on 16 May at 12. The campaign says; Damien and Jenny were dismissed without due process by the University of Bolton. No wages, or income since early March. 3 children to feed, one disabled .Damien for allegedly leaking information already in the public domain [VC’s £960,000.00 loan], Jenny apparently for taking a photo of Lake Windermere where VC Holmes yacht moored. There is a fundraiser for them on 18 May at Chethams Library. For more details see .

Listen

to an alternative election broadcast by Banner Theatre who have spent years dishing the dirt on the political parties……..love the Brummy accent…at
Find out more about them see