Workers’ Rights

Having grown up in Wigan surrounded by cotton mills, I was really happy to be selected as the writer for this commission at Islington Mill.

Over several months, I conducted research into the history of the Mill, its partial collapse in 1824 and the workers who were killed, the evolution of workers’ rights, strikes, and trade unions, and the huge problems remaining in the cotton industry of today.

I wrote four new monologues, ‘Strangers’, ‘Lofty’, ‘Fire’, and ‘Fast’, from the perspectives of four fictional characters from different points in history.

These monologues were performed by actors Keziah Lockwood and Ross Thompson at a public sharing event at the Mill in August 2022. It was a brilliant evening.

I also wrote a new poem, ‘Falling’, which I performed at the event, and is now part of the Islington Mill Heritage Timeline.