Memorial lecture

CRAIGAVON Council of Trade Unions will be holding the first annual Jim Haughey Memorial Lecture in the town hall at 7.30pm tomorrow night (Friday).

Attending the event will be two surviving veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Bob Doyle the last surviving Irishman and Jack Edwards from Liverpool.

They both volunteered alongside Jim Haughey from North Street to fight against fascism in Spain as part of the International Brigade from 1936 to 1938.

Bob and Jack have just returned from the reunion of the International Brigade in Barcelona to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war - an event representatives from the Craigavon Council of Trade Unions also attended.

Both men are in Northern Ireland to unveil a memorial statue commemorating the men and women who helped defend the democratically elected government in Spain in 1936.

Jim Haughey also fought in Spain and continued the fight against the spread of fascism with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War Two. During the conflict he died in a plane crash near Higher Winsham, north Devon in 1943.

Dooley Harte of the Trades Council said: "This is an important event which carries historical significance. The lecture will focus on the fight against fascism, then and now. The fact bob and Jack will be there will add a poignancy to the occasion."

Bob and Jack will be launching a book compiled by the Trades Council in memory of Jim Haughey.

Other contributors to the lecture will be journalist Roy Garland, historian Harry Owens and Peter Bunting of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Manus O'Riordan, whose father also fought in Spain, will sing for the first time in public a song called 'Fighter Pilot'. A poem written by Jim Haughey to which Manus has added music.

The event promises to be an historic occasion and those wishing to attend are advised to arrive early to avoid disappointment.