Urdd Eisteddfod
Women Chainmakers’ Festival
Durham Miners’ Gala
Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival
Burston Strike Rally
UK Pride
Urdd Eisteddfod 2023, Wales - Monday 29 May to Saturday 3 June
The Urdd National Eisteddfod is one of Europe’s largest youth touring festivals, attracting around 90,000 visitors each year.
The Urdd Eisteddfod is a touring festival and is held in a different location in Wales each year. In 2024, the National Urdd Eisteddfod will visit Maldwyn.
The Eisteddfod is a competitive festival with over 15,000 children and young people under the age of 25 competing in various competitions such as singing, dancing and performing throughout the week of the festival.
The 1,800 seater Pavilion is the home of the competitions and is very much the hub of the Eisteddfod. Surrounding the Pavilion on the ‘Maes’, you will find hundreds of colourful stalls offering a range of activities for all the family - from biking, climbing and sport sessions to a fun fair, live bands and children’s shows with some well known TV characters.
The Urdd Eisteddfod 2023 was a haven for NASUWT members to take a break and for NASUWT activists to provide advice to existing members and recruit new members. It was a great opportunity to connect and network with education agencies and the Welsh Government and to lobby the MSs who attended.
Women Chainmakers’ Festival 2023, Cradley Heath - Saturday 1 July
Each year, the Women Chainmakers’ Festival recognises and celebrates the role of women within the trade union movement and aims to reclaim the often forgotten contribution of women to Britain’s industrial heritage.
The festival usually includes a banner procession, history tent, activities for children, music and speakers.
The NASUWT is planning a strong presence at the 2023 event, at which the Union will have a stand and take part in the banner procession.
Video and photo highlights of the 2023 Festival
Durham Miners’ Gala 2023, Durham - Saturday 8 July
The Durham Miners’ Gala is a large annual gathering and trade union festival held on the second Saturday of July in the city of Durham. Hosted by the Durham Miners’ Association since 1871, the Gala is the world’s greatest celebration of community, working-class culture and international solidarity.
The NASUWT takes part in the parade with our national and regional banners accompanied by the NASUWT Riverside Brass Band, marching through the town onto the old racecourse where the NASUWT has a stall.
Video and photo highlights of the 2023 Gala
Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival 2023, Dorset - Saturday 15 to Sunday 16 July
The Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival is the annual gathering that commemorates the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, five men who dared to organise a trade union - a crime in the eyes of the establishment - to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week, the equivalent of £50 in real terms today and the third wage cut in as many years.
Visit the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ website or the Facebook group for more information.
The NASUWT always has a strong presence throughout the weekend as a stallholder and proudly sponsors the Children’s Zone.
On the Sunday, the NASUWT pays its respects by laying a wreath at the grave of James Hammett and joins the march with our national and regional banners accompanied by the NASUWT Riverside brass band.
Unfortunately this year, the organisers of the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival had to make a very difficult decision to cancel the remaining festival programme on Saturday morning in the interests of everybody’s safety when they were faced with yellow weather warnings from the Met Office.
TUC South West Regional Secretary Ines Lage said, ‘It is with extreme disappointment we have taken the difficult decision to call off this year’s festival, but with high winds predicted to reach 45mph, the site is now unsafe for campers and visitors.
‘Our festival is a celebration of solidarity and unity and this year we saw such solidarity in abundance as we sought to keep the festival going in adverse conditions.
The kindness, patience and overwhelming support from festival attendees, and our wonderful crew and volunteers have brought home what the union movement is about. We are eternally grateful and will endeavour to extend that solidarity as we go forward as a community and a movement.
It’s the first time that extreme weather has caused the festival to be cancelled and I really hope it will be the last. I thank people for their understanding and look forward to welcoming them back in 2024.’
Work is already under way in preparing for the 2024 Festival and more information of how you can be involved will follow.
Burston Strike School Rally 2023, Norfolk - Sunday 3 September
Every year, trade unionists come together to commemorate what became known as the longest running strike in British history. The strike lasted from 1914 to 1939, in the village of Burston in Norfolk.
Kitty Higdon and her husband Tom, headteacher and teacher, were forced out by the school’s managing body because of their efforts to educate working-class children and improve their environment. After Kitty Higdon had been sacked on the pretext of lighting a fire without permission, Violet Potter led 66 of the school’s 72 pupils out on strike. With the full support of parents, the Higdons established an alternative well-equipped school on the village green.
The strike became a central issue for trade unionists and school reformers throughout the country and thanks to appeal funds, a new school was officially opened on 13 May 1917 by Violet Potter, who said ‘With joy and thankfulness I declare this school open to be forever a School of Freedom.’
In 2023, the Union hosted a stall profiling our Better Deal for Teachers campaign and, joined by the NASUWT Riverside Band, led the ‘Candlestick March’ following the route of the original children’s demonstration.
Video and photo highlights of the 2023 Rally
Flickr Album
We’ll be back in force again in 2024 with a stand and our traditional high profile on the march.
UK Pride 2023, Weston-Super-Mare - 30 September to 1 October
UK Pride is organised by the UK Pride Organisers Network (UKPON) formed to bring Pride organisers together to share knowledge and experiences, to support each other and to encourage a diverse and vibrant Pride movement around the UK.
The NASUWT is committed to supporting local and regional Pride events throughout the UK as part of its work on LGBTI equality. As part of this commitment, the NASUWT will also support UK Pride as a national union event.
The NASUWT was proud to support UK Pride 2022, which was hosted by Northern Pride Festival at Newcastle’s Town Moor from 22 to 24 July.
UK Pride celebrated with the theme Remember, Resist, Rise Up with a funfair, food village, bars and a packed entertainment bill.
We were proud to join NASUWT LGBTI activists from across the country to hold a stall promoting the Union and to take part in the march on Saturday 23 July.
You can see some of our Coming Out for Teachers photos in our Flickr album and for details of other Pride events taking place around the UK, please see our Pride calendar.
UK Pride 2023 took place on the weekend of 30 September and 1 October in Weston-Super-Mare, with a theme of #proudtobe. The NASUWT took part in the Pride parade and also hosted a stall at the event.
For more information on how to take part in UK Pride, please email the Equality and Training Team.
Video and photo highlights of UK Pride 2023
Calculate your travel carbon footprint
As part of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, particularly at our conferences and events, we'd like to share a tool allowing you to understand the environmental impact of your journey and identifying low-carbon door-to-door travel plans that help you towards net-zero travel.
Try the You.Smart.Thing travel planner.