City prepares to honour Chartist heroes

People are being invited to leave their own special imprint on Newport’s Chartist history this year as the city prepares to mark the 185^th anniversary of the uprising by workers demanding the right to vote.

The annual torchlit march to honour the Chartists and celebrate their legacy takes place through the city centre on the evening of Saturday 2 November following a spectacular fire show in Belle Vue Park.

The march is the centrepiece of the Newport Rising Festival, a programme of entertainment and commemorative events running from 27 October to 4 November.

Symbolism

This year march leaders will carry a symbolic Charter created by local community artist Lucilla Jones as a reminder of the original 1839 People’s Charter, a 1.3 million- signature petition calling for working people to be given the vote and a secret ballot.

Parliament rejected their demands out of hand at the time, sparking huge anger across the country.

In the run-up to the 2024 torchlit march, visitors to Newport city centre are being urged to drop in to the Newport Rising Hub in Commercial Street to sign the new Charter and pay their own respects to the South Wales activists who were killed and wounded by soldiers in Newport during the uprising in 1839.

Prominent among the 2024 march leaders will be Welsh film and TV actor Julian Lewis-Jones who will deliver the Chartist leader’s oration to the assembled crowd at Belle Vue Park before they set off to retrace the footsteps of the original ill-fated procession down Stow Hill to the site of the bloody showdown at Westgate Square.

Julian, who featured in the film epic Invictus, as well as numerous international TV shows, will then lead marchers to the Square for a finale which reimagines the tragic events that gave Newport its special place in the story of modern democracy.

Legacy

Prior to the procession participants will be entertained in Belle Vue Park by local folk group The Blessed Crow, the City of Newport Male Choir and a spectacular fire show by the Hummadruz Theatre Company, telling the Chartist story.

Participation in the event is free and open to all. Those wishing to carry torches on the march can buy them at the Park on the day or reserve them beforehand via the Newport Rising website www.newportrising.co.uk

The event is one of a number taking place in and around the city during the festival, including a performance by top Welsh Indie band Adwaith at the Corn Exchange and the Chartist Convention at St Woolos Cathedral – both on 2 November – and the official Chartist Commemoration outside the cathedral on 4 November.

Eoghan Mortell, Chair of the Newport Rising festival committee said organisers are hoping for bigger crowds than ever this year.

He shared: “Newport people are increasingly conscious of the city’s unique place in the history of Chartism and its key role in winning the vote for ordinary working people across Britain and worldwide. They want to embrace that hugely significant legacy.

“Interest has been growing since we opened the Newport Rising Hub in the city centre a few months ago and we’re looking forward to building on that by delivering a memorable festival.”

Find out more here.