The time for action is now

The unveiling of a deliberately symbolic red plaque and a special children’s rendition of a song written in her honour were the highlights of a celebration of the life of Betty Tebbs (1918-2017), a lifelong trade union member of one of Unite’s legacy unions.

Betty’s radical reputation meant that the event at the Festival Gardens on Church Street in Radcliffe, Bury resulted in widespread media attention with BBC North West News dedicating nearly four minutes coverage to the occasion and her life.

Unite was delighted to fund the plaque and also sent a prominent speaker. Unite members attended alongside other trade union and labour movement activists, friends, family and schoolchildren.

Guest of honour was Pat Pilling, Betty’s daughter (pictured above), who paid special tribute to local music teacher and songwriter Paul Davies (pictured below).

Paul was left shocked at discovering he had no idea who Betty was four years ago, and so he came up with the idea of the plaque and composed the Betty Tebbs song, which was warmly received by the crowd of more than 100. Year 4 pupils from the local St John’s Primary School gave it a rousing rendition starting with:

Sometimes your history is airbrushed

Sometimes the story can be wrong

And ending with:

Betty Tebbs, she fought for justice

Betty Tebbs, she fought for Peace

Betty Tebbs, for equality

Betty Tebbs a legend indeed

One of the children, Alexis, aged 9, speaking alongside classmates Isabel and Jacob said she had enjoyed working with Pat and Paul on the song, and “it feels nice to sing about someone who did so much for our home town.”

Unite regional officer Tanya Sweeney (pictured above) told the audience how she “was pleased to be speaking as Betty was a pioneering force who helped bring about economic and social change…Women still face many challenges but we can learn from Betty’s determination (as she) ensured women’s voices were heard… and showed the value women brought to the workplace.”

The plaque, a political red rather than blue, was specially placed on the original gates of the East Lancashire Paper Mill, which finally closed in 2001, where in her role as shop steward during the 50s and 60s Betty’s drive was such that, as Pat told the audience, “She raised the women’s wages to the highest in the paper industry nationally.”

Present at the ceremony were her former Mill colleagues, Gloria Ogden and long-time friend Allwyn Blair. They praised her success as a steward in “helping make pay and conditions better.” 

At aged 14, Betty joined the National Union of Printing Binding and Paper Workers after discovering at the end of her first week’s work in 1932 at Wild’s Paper Mill that for doing exactly the same job as her male counterpart she had received 16 per cent less pay. Betty became a lifelong campaigner, often in the face of opposition from fellow trade unionists for equal pay. Alongside other women such as the Ford Dagenham sewing machinists, she was ultimately successful in achieving legislation for equal pay for work of equal value.

Her passion for justice was matched by husband Ernest Whitwell who quit his job to go, as he said “to fight fascism” and lose his life in France in WWII in 1944.  Betty later married Len Tebbs who inspired her socialist principles.

Horrified by the dropping of nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Betty became a lifelong campaigner for peace and amongst those who attended the plaque unveiling were members of CND, including her great friend, Neville Ball, a retired draughtsman who told of how at aged 89 the pair had been arrested for blocking the gates to the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane, near Glasgow. “It was the right thing to do as it attracted some publicity, which is needed so that people can know there is opposition to nuclear weapons.”

In 1986, Betty, as chair of the National Assembly of Women, spoke alongside astronaut Valentina Tereshkova to a Moscow crowd of 10,000 about halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

By then Betty had helped established a women’s refuge, still standing today, in Warrington and began, alongside her great friend Linda Clair, supporting the efforts of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, members of whom attended the plaque unveiling.

In September 2016, Betty joined Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, in speaking at the Labour Party conference and received warm applause by linking peace and socialism.

Since her death in 2017, Betty has continued to be remembered.  Based on her own memoirs, Unite in 2019 published the booklet Betty Tebbs – a radical working class hero by Mark Metcalf, who urged those present “to follow Betty’s footsteps by also writing their stories and depositing them in the Working Class Movement Library in Salford so that they can help today’s activists learn from past struggles and be inspired to become like Betty.”

Thanks to the efforts of Bolton Trades Council, monies have now been raised to make a documentary film, directed by Unite member Francesca Platt, on Betty’s life and which will be released later this year.

As chair of the Bolton 0121 Unite branch Martin McMulkin was delighted to be present to remember “a special woman, the plaque looks really good, if she was around today Betty would have a lot to say and would still be a thorn in the side of the establishment. It is great the youngsters now know about her and how wonderful it would be if some of the young girls follow in her footsteps. The film should further assist the struggles we face for a better world in the future.”

The final word though was left to Pat, who said her mother “would have been so proud to have seen so many people here today celebrating her life.”

Betty Tebbs – A radical working class hero 64-page booklet can be downloaded for free here.

View BBC coverage of the plaque unveiling here.

Bolton News also covered the events in print and film in an article here.

For more details on the film and to arrange a showing contact Mark Metcalf at [email protected]

By Mark Metcalf

Photos by Mark Harvey