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Bragg in line-up for biggest-ever Tolpuddle festival
LONDON’S biggest ever Tolpuddle festival kicks off tomorrow (Saturday) with a march involving leading trade unionists and political speakers and music by Billy Bragg and Martin Carthy.
People will be assembling just after noon on Saturday at the Clocktower, Caledonian Park, Market Road, for entertainment and refreshments.
A plaque will be unveiled by Frances O’Grady, TUC Deputy General Secretary.
At 1.30pm there will be a march to Edward Square at the junction of Caledonian Road and Copenhagen Street.
At 2pm Islington Mayor Lib Dem Cllr Stefan Kasprzyk opens the celebration, followed by Megan Dobney SERTUC Regional Secretary at 2.20pm.
Martin Carthy, England’s pre-eminent traditional folk musician is at 2.55pm, followed by Graham Moore from Tolpuddle, a singer, songwriter and playwright at 3.15.
Raised Voices Choir is 3.25pm, followed by Leon Rosselson, radical singer/songwriter, at 3.45pm.
Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s Deputy General Secretary, will speak at a 4pm.
Singer Billy Bragg begins his set at 4.30pm, followed by the Northern Celts Band at 5.45pm.
The events marks the 175th anniversary of the mass protest march from Copenhagen Fields in Islington that handed in a petition with 200,000 signatures demanding the pardon and return of six farm workers form Dorset who had been transported to Australia for seven years for forming a trade union.
In 1834, 100,000 people gathered in Copenhagen Fields, just north of what is now called King’s Cross, to demand freedom for the Tolpuddle Martyrs. |
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