Blowing With The Blackburn Trades

Probably the best book ever written about a Blackburn Boozer

(Probably the only book ever written about a Blackburn Boozer)

My first book was about the old Blackburn Trades Council Club.  It shut in 1993 and I was determined it shouldn’t be forgotten.  I spent many happy times in this establishment, both as a club member, but also as a member of its management committee for nine years.

The club helped in many trade unionist campaigns for good causes. For instance, it provided activists with support during the 1984-85 miners’ strike, the Wapping dispute against Murdoch’s press; opposition to the poll tax, among many other campaigns.

This book, which has a foreword by Michael Hindley MEP, is based on personal recollections of its author. It gives a close-up view of numerous individuals who participated in the Club’s work, controversies that took place behind the scenes, individual arguments and disagreements, especially with Blackburn MP, Jack Straw, and his local Labour Party establishment.

It all makes a highly readable story, and illustrates all sorts of problems with which local trade union and labour bodies are frequently faced.

This book came out as a paperback in 1996.  Jim Hammonds at Lancashire Community Press published it for me.  Recently I have managed to turn it into an ebook, following the success of my second publication.