AWARDS/LETTERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2013 :: RMTnews 28 THE 1913 DUBLIN LOCKOUT Speaker: Francis Devine RMT’s guest speaker to deliver this year’s Charles Watkins’ Memorial Lecture will be Labour historian Fran- cis Devine, who will be talking on the 1913 Dublin Lockout. The event is free to attend and re- freshments will also be provided. The Memorial Lecture was initiated in 2009 as a result of an Annual General Meeting resolution. It commemorates the role of Charles Watkins, a key founding activist of the National Union of Railwaymen in 1913, who was a student at Ruskin College in 1909 and took part in the Ruskin strikes of that year. Charles Watkins’ Memorial Lecture TUESDAY 7 JANUARY 2014, 6:00pm Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD James Larkin delivering a speech during the 1913 Dublin Lockout F EAT: A group of head office staff climbed to the top of Britain’s second highest mountain, Snowden to raise money for the 'Brian Munro Cancer Fighting Fund' Taking just over five hours to climb and come back down, Bob Crow, Nicola Hoarau, Yvonne Sawford, Jackie Moritz, Gabriel Barton, Maria Santamera, Ken Usher, Dawn Hanlon, Terry Hurlock and John Dougherty have so far raised nearly £3000. Dear editor, Readers may be aware of our fundraising efforts for a cutting edge cancer treatment available in Christie’s in Manchester. In June this year we launched the Brian Munro Cancer Fighting Fund in order to pay for this treatment which is not available on the NHS yet. I am delighted to report that with RMT support monies were raised and I will be going to Christie’s IN November for the treatment. This is a breakthrough treatment that will hopefully be beneficial for me and help make the case that this should be freely available on the NHS for others with my condition. Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) treatment involves removing a tumour and extracting cancer killing t-cells, growing them in a lab and creating an attacking army of millions of t-cells. In September I had surgery where a big bit of my liver was cut out to harvest the lymphocytes and they were frozen and kept in a freezer in Manchester. Members of the union up and down the country supported our fundraising efforts and I write to thank them for their support, for their individual and generous donations, supporting the raffles, auctions and sponsored events that have raised the money for this treatment. It's thanks to them this is happening! Without the backing from the union – our general secretary Bob Crow, the Council of Executives; the huge and generous support from regional councils and branches and the support from individual members – we would not have been able to go ahead with the treatment. I am extremely proud and privileged to be part of our union and I thank the RMT family with all of my heart for your support, solidarity and humanity. Comradely, Brian Munro Dear Editor In 2005, RMT became the second Trade Union to take up a seat on the Morning Star management committee and I was honoured to be the nominated representative. Since then the number has increased to ten national TU bodies, alongwith a corresponding increase in individual members of the PPPS. Having taken the recent decision to stand down from the position - I wish to convey appreciation to Steven Skelly for his enthusiasm and commitment in taking up the RMT seat. I wish to thank the General Secretary for his support and advice over the past nine years and also Glasgow Shipping Branch for their continued support for the Morning Star - which has been exemplary, as well as the many RMT members, Branches and Regional Councils who have taken out shares in the People's Press Printing Society and donated to the Fighting Fund, which are both necessary to ensure the paper continues to be the authentic voice of the Labour and Trade Union movement, under the banner of For Peace & Socialism - long may it flourish. In Solidarity, Stuart Hyslop CLIMBING FOR BRIAN THANKS TO THE UNION BACK THE MORNING STAR LETTERS