20 mile Rochdale Peace Walk remembers past campaigners and urges action now

Peace campaigners meeting at John Bright's statue

Peace campaigners from across Greater Manchester joined members of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group on a 20 mile walk around Rochdale today (Sunday 22 September). They were marking the 32nd International Day of Peace and raising funds for their ongoing campaigns for Britain to become a country free from all nuclear weapons and free from nuclear power.

The walk started at the statue of 19th century peace campaigner John Bright in Broadfield Park and continued via Watergrove Reservoir to the grave of socialist and women’s rights campaigner Enid Stacy at St James’ church, Calderbrook.

From Calderbrook, they walked across to the Pennine Way and eventually returned to Rochdale via Windy Hill, Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough and the Rochdale Canal.

On Blackstone Edge, they paused to recall the vast rally held there on 2 August 1846, addressed by radical Chartist and poet, Ernest Jones.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group, said: “We very much enjoyed our long walk and it was good to remember that Rochdale has been home to many campaigners and campaigns that have sought to ‘speak truth to power'.

"In 1846, Ernest Jones, campaigning for the Charter, spoke of the 'song of liberty' being a 'standard of broad sunlight' on Blackstone Edge, while a decade later John Bright was the most prominent opponent of the devastating Crimea War and an eloquent advocate of disarmament.

"In the 1890s, Enid Stacy combined the causes of women’s rights and socialism in her speeches at factory gates and her articles in the Clarion newspaper and continued her tireless campaigning until her untimely death in 1903.

"Such campaigners inspire our campaigns, today. In 2013, their examples help us to reject the rhetoric which so nearly plunged us into another futile war only a few weeks ago and makes us more determined than ever to campaign against the squandering of £billions on ever more dangerous nuclear weapons while cutting essential services.

"So, next Sunday (29 September 2013), we shall be swapping our local moors for the streets of Manchester and joining the TUC demonstration at the Conservative Party Conference and telling David Cameron as loudly and clearly as we can that we want our taxes spent on decent benefits and public services and not on wars or nuclear missiles. In particular, we shall be reminding the government that we need ‘NHS Not Trident’. We hope that others will join us.”