Jarrow’s Rebel Town Festival returns for 2023 - this is what to expect

Jarrow’s annual Rebel Town Festival is set to return this year on Saturday, June 17.

The event commemorates the 1832 story of the ‘Seven Men of Jarrow’ who were deported to an Australian penal colony for a crime they almost certainly did not commit.

It also marks Jarrow’s role in the history of Britain’s industrial relations since the 1830s.

The event will begin at around 10.45am at the Riverside Platform, which is adjacent to the Pedestrian Tunnel entrance in Jarrow.

There wil be a speech of welcome from Alan Mardghum, the General Secretary of the Durham Miners Association, before he is followed by Tyneside poet, Tom Pickard.

David Douglass, one of the event organisers and also of the NUM and the Wardley Miners Lodge Association, will also address crowds, starting his contribution in Gaelic to mark his Tyneside-Irish roots.

People will then lay wreaths in memory of William Jobling, the Jarrow miner who was hung and then gibbetted and his body publicly exhibited out in the Tyne covered in pitch, before the Felling Silver Bank lead off the traditional Follonsby Wardley Miners Lodge banner in a parade.

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The procession will head to the Temple (Albert) pit, where a eulogy to the young boys killed at the mine will be read and the band will then play the Miners Hymn Gresford to a silent crowd.

The parade will then move off to the main platform out the Albion Gin & Ale House, on Walter Street, where Jarrow MP Kate Osborne will also be in attendance and is also expected to address the crowds.

The star speak at this year’s event is set to be Alex Gordon, the president of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) who are currently locked in a battle over pay for rail workers.

Following the speakers, there will be an afternoon of music with stalls selling books, miner’s lamps, tshirts, and more, with everyone welcome to attend.