The annual Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival will take place in Dorset this weekend with radical film screenings in a vintage mobile cinema, a left wing indie disco and live artpunk kitchencore music.
The village of Tolpuddle was home to six farm workers, transported to Australia in 1834 after forming a trade union. After a national outcry, they were pardoned and returned home as free men; enshrining in law the right to join a trade union.
The festival, which commemorates this moment in history, is run by the South West TUC, drawing crowds to the rural Dorset village. The annual event is a mixture of music, politics, films, comedy and poetry.
The festival has its own vintage mobile cinema, which will be hosting the Tolpuddle Radical Film Festival over the weekend.
This year’s event will include a kids’ area with activities, a walk in the Martyrs’ footsteps accompanied by a folk group, a drumming workshop, radical stand-up poetry and a procession through the village.
Talks will cover subjects including zero carbon, automation and equality, Brexit and beyond, power in your community, turning the tide of racism, the climate emergency, conflict in cyberspace, and sweatshops.
Music at this year’s festival will include indie/punk influences from Horses in Disguise, hip hop from The Scribes, electro inspired sounds from Millie Manders and the Shutup, artpunk from Pete Bentham and the Dinner Ladies, and riotous party music from Holy Moly and the Crackers. There will also be poetry and comedy events over the weekend.
Visitors to the Tolpuddle Martyr’s Festival are also encouraged to find time to walk through the village to see the places that played their part in the story of the Martyrs.
When: 19th – 21st July 2019
Where: Tolpuddle village, Dorset
£: Tickets will be available on the gate (£45 for the weekend). Sunday’s events are free to attend
More info: www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk
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