SINCE 2020 we have held Volunteers for Liberty (VFL) commemorations in Newcastle and on Teesside at the end of October — the anniversary of the International Brigade farewell parade that took place in Barcelona on October 28 1938. Last year, for the first time, we held one in Sunderland too.

With this year being the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish civil war our VFL events have a special significance. We’ll remember the 120 International Brigade volunteers from our region, especially the 33 volunteers who lost their lives defending democracy in Spain.

We remember too the seafarers from our region who risked their lives to take supplies to and evacuate refugees out of beleaguered Spanish Republic ports. We also remember the volunteers in our region who raised funds for Spain and cared for the Basque refugee children who found sanctuary here.

This year our Teesside VFL commemoration will be held at The Songbird, 1 Calvert’s Lane, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1TB, at 3pm on Sunday October 25.

We will be beneath the Stockton International Brigade memorial where we will remember the 32 Teesside volunteers who served in the International Brigade in Spain, 10 of whom lost their lives.

The reading of the roll of honour is an important part of the commemoration. Although it is always an honour to be joined by relatives of the volunteers, many cannot make it and send messages of support. In return we reassure them that the volunteers are remembered.

This year in Stockton we will hear from representatives from the Communist Party of Britain who have co-hosted our VFL commemorations since 2020.

We will also hear from the Association of the UK Basque Children and we will be joined by relatives of some of the Basque refugee children who were evacuated to our region following the bombing of Guernica in 1937.

The Associazione Nazionale Partigiani — Anpi UK (anpi.org.uk) will again be represented, reminding us of that the International Brigade was not an isolated response to fascism; it was a continuation of the international opposition to fascism which had begun in Italy in 1922.

In April we held our Partisans Pizza and Pasta Party in the Olive Branch in Stockton to commemorate Italy’s Liberation Day.

This year for the first time we will be joined by representatives of the Spanish Ex-Servicemen’s Association, with whom we are working to highlight to stories of the Spaniards who served in the British armed forces during WWII. Some of these Spaniards settled on Teesside after the war.

Working with The Olive Branch and The Songbird pubs in the Wasps Nest Yard is always a pleasure — a memorial plaque is mounted on the outside of The Songbird which commemorates eight Stockton men who served in the International Brigade.

Last year we held the Teesside VFL commemoration in Billingham because we were campaigning for a memorial to Ron Dennison, a Stockton-born volunteer who was killed in Spain. 

Ron was omitted from the Stockton International Brigade Memorial. He was a ward secretary for the Billingham Labour Party, but the roll of honour produced in 1939 misspelled his home address as Bellingham in Northumberland — for 80 years he was listed as a Northumberland volunteer. Upon uncovering this mistake in 2023 we immediately began a campaign for a memorial to him.

We are delighted to be working with the portrait artist James Otto Allen, the grandson of International Brigade volunteer Otto Estensen, who is named on the Stockton International Brigade memorial.

At the VFL commemoration in Stockton we will be announcing our progress on James’s work on the Ron Dennison memorial which will be erected in The Songbird in 2027.

We will also be remembering George Bright, a Stockton volunteer who, like Ron Dennison, lost his life in Spain. George was a significant Communist Party activist, he organised the National Unemployed Workers Movement on Teesside, confronted the British Union of Fascists at the Battle of Stockton in September 1933, and at Cable Street in 1936.

I will be reading a message from his relatives, Jane and Rob, on October 25 who are unable to make it to Stockton.

This year we will be without a constant, Dr Bob Beagrie, who has attended, and read at, every previous VFL. This year the high-quality music and poetry will come from outstanding regulars: Ron Brown, Sara Dennis and Harry Gallagher.

I am also thrilled that singer Francis David and the folk group Fauconberg have agreed to perform at their first VFL commemoration. Fauconberg intend to debut their freshly composed latest song, The Battle of Stockton.

For further details email NEVolunteersforliberty@gmail.com.