An annual rally celebrating the longest strike in history will take place on Sunday. Trades Union officials and Labour Party supporters will be among those gathering at Burston Strike School to commemorate village schoolteachers Tom and Kitty Higdon who were sacked in 1914 for their socialist beliefs.
An annual rally celebrating the longest strike in history will take place on Sunday.
Trades Union officials and Labour Party supporters will be among those gathering at Burston Strike School to commemorate village schoolteachers Tom and Kitty Higdon who were sacked in 1914 for their socialist beliefs. The couple were extremely popular and schoolchildren walked out in protest, and were educated at a rival school set up on the village green which continued until 1939.
It is now a museum dedicated to the Higdons and the strike.
Veteran Labour politician Tony Benn and singer/songwriter Billy Bragg attracted bumper crowds at last year's event. Guest speakers on Sunday are MP John McDonnell who stood against Gordon Brown after Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister; local MP Richard Howitt; Kate Hudson, chairman of the CND, and Bill Greenshields, National Union of Teachers' president.
Live music will be provided by Scottish folk act Dick Guaghan and the Diss High School soul band, there will be stalls and a beer tent, and a children's fun area with bouncy castle and play bus.
One of the highlights of the rally, which runs from 11am to 4.30pm, is the parade of banners around the village - following in the steps of the children when they held their protest march 94 years ago.
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