Viva la Quinta Brigada

Myself and one of my comrades in the Labour Group, Mick Davies, were on our way back from canvassing against the fascists in Tipton last week when he remarked that it was a shame that there appeared to be no commemoration in the Black Country to those brave volunteers who helped in the fight against Franco’s fascists in the Spanish Civil War. We agreed that it is a bit of working class history we should be proud of, and it should be taught in our school history lessons and proudly commemorated as we do those others who fought against the fascists. It is perhaps no wonder sometimes our youth turn to fascists for solutions when we don’t teach them that there were others, beside Winston Churchill, who made a stand against fascism, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice..
I am currently taking steps to try to find out any information about the sorts of numbers we would be talking about, including possibly any women who may have travelled with Medical Aid for Spain. If anyone has any information I would be grateful to receive it if you could e-mail it to me or add it to the comments box. George Barnsby tells me about Don and Dusty Bennett from Walsall and I am indebted to Keith Taylor for telling me about the late Bob Edwards who was MP for Bilston until 1987 (I can’t imagine he would have fitted in to Tony Blair’s New Model Army I laughed at the bit where he describes Orwell as a ‘scribbly little bastard’).
I would also like to know if readers could let me know whether there are any commemorations in other parts of the country.