Remembering our missing colleagues on Workers’ Memorial Day

The annual Workers’ Memorial Day Remembrance Service and Wreath-Laying Ceremony takes place this year on Monday 28th April.  

It commemorates those who have been either killed or injured in workplace accidents and aims to raise awareness among employers of the importance of effective health and safety procedures.

This year’s service and wreath-laying will again take place in Hartlepool College of Further Education in Stockton Street, TS24 7NT.

A lone Scottish piper will be playing at the College from 11.45am and will pipe people into the building at 12.20pm in time to take their seats for a one-minute silence at 12.30pm.

The speakers will include Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dave Ward, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), Beth Farhat, Regional Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), Karen Reay, Regional Secretary of UNITE, Dave Anderson, Chair of Marra’s (Friends of the Durham Miners’ Gala) and Nicola Wells, Regional Organiser of Community.

Following the service, over 50 wreaths will be laid at the College by organisations and members of the public attending the event, including Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the TUC, and the Ceremonial Mayor of Hartlepool, Councillor Carole Thompson.

The wreaths will later be relocated to the side of the former Christ Church (Hartlepool Art Gallery) for public viewing.

The ceremony will end at about 1.45pm. Light refreshments will be available from 12 noon in the Flagship Restaurant in Hartlepool College of Further Education prior to the service and a light buffet will be available in the Flagship Restaurant following the laying of the wreaths. 

Edwin Jeffries, President of Hartlepool Trades Union Council, said: “We hope that as many people as possible from across the region will join us to pay their respects and lend their support to the ongoing campaign to make all workplaces safe for workers.

“We would especially like to welcome families, friends and colleagues who wish to remember loved ones who have died or been injured or made ill through their work.

“Once again, we will be providing individual flowers so that anybody attending the service can lay a flower in memory of a loved one.

“On Workers’ Memorial Day, as our slogan for the event each year reminds us, we ‘Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living.’ ”

For more information about the event, please contact Edwin Jeffries on 07813 073186 or email ejeffries73@gmail.com

** In a further ceremony to mark Workers’ Memorial Day, there will be a lowering of flags and wreath-laying ceremony in front of Hartlepool Civic Centre on Monday 28th April at 11am, beginning with a minute’s silence.

Wreaths will be laid by Councillor Carole Thompson, the Ceremonial Mayor of Hartlepool, Denise McGuckin, Managing Director of Hartlepool Borough Council, and Edwin Jeffries, Secretary of Hartlepool Joint Trade Union Committee.