Breathtaking journey reaches Leeds
Asbestos campaigners cycling 1,200 miles across the UK will be joined by a motorbike cavalcade on their journey from Hebden Bridge to Leeds on Sunday (June 28) at 3.30pm, where they will be greeted at the former JM Roberts factory in Armley.
A welcome party organised by the UK's only independent mesothelioma research charity, the June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund, will include charity trustees Kimberley Stubbs and Russell Hancock (June's children), Leeds West MP John Battle; writer Ken Yates, whose play – Dust – about the asbestos scandal in Leeds and June's fight for justice opens in the city next month; Dust director Alex Chisholm and cast members and the Leeds-based support group MARC (Mesothelioma and Asbestos-related Concerns).
Solicitors Katrina London and Paul Glanville and campaigner Jason Addy are riding from Glasgow to Southampton in a ‘Breathtaking Journey' to raise awareness of the plight of asbestos-related cancer sufferers and to support the call for a national research centre. The trio will be cycling through regions of the country whose communities have been most blighted by the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.
They will reach the JM Roberts asbestos factory in Canal Road, Armley, Leeds, which closed in 1956 after nearly 100 years contaminating the area with deadly fibres that killed hundreds, at the end of the sixth leg of their journey. June Hancock was brought up in the shadow of the factory. Her mother, Maie Gelder, died of mesothelioma in 1982; when she, too, contracted the disease twelve years later, she vowed to fight those responsible for the tragedy that struck her family and neighbourhood. She went on to make legal history, establishing that the company had failed its duty of care to those living around it, as well as to those who worked there.
June died in 1997; her children Russell Hancock and Kimberley Stubbs, together with her friend and lawyer Adrian Budgen, set up a charity in her name which has so far raised more than £500,000, mostly from those personally affected by the disease.
Leeds West MP John Battle said: “Sadly the deadly legacy of asbestos is still with us. Victims past and present need our support and backing more than ever.”
JHMRF trustee Kimberley Stubbs said: “We're really thrilled that Katrina, Paul and Jason are giving so much to bring the asbestos scandal to public attention, and we'll be delighted to give them a special welcome.”
Cyclist Katrina London said: "Asbestos-related cancers remain one of Britain's biggest workplace killers in 2009, yet there is practically no dedicated research funding into these cancers."
Photographers and journalists welcome. The cyclists are due to arrive at the factory in Canal Road at 3.30pm. For more information, interviews etc please contact Vanessa Bridge (07711 969223) or Kate Hill (07971 480744)
Photo: the cyclist from left are Paul Glanville, Jason Addy and Katrina London, then Russell Hancock, Kimberley Stubbs and Leeds West John Battle MP. They are outside the former JW Roberts factory in Canal Road.
Notes to editors
- The June Hancock Mesothelioma Research is the UK's only independently registered mesothelioma charity (No 1121784). The Fund supports mesothelioma research projects, contributes to clinical trials with novel drug therapies, raises awareness of the disease amongst healthcare professionals and the public at large and provides information and advice for mesothelioma sufferers and their carers. For more see www.junehancockfund.org
- Dust , drawn from trial transcripts, interviews and letters and performed by actors and residents of Armley and West Yorkshire is the story of June Hancock's fight for justice. It premiers at the I Love West Leeds Festival, behind Pet and Garden World, Ledgard Way, Armley, on Saturday 11 July, 7.30pm. Tickets: £5, call 07914 4745151 or online at www.dust.eventbrite.com (Tickets for this event are limited; please book early to avoid disappointment). All proceeds to the JHMRF.
The play transfers to the Courtyard Theatre at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 15-18 July, tickets £9, concessions available, see West Yorkshire Playhouse website - To follow the Breathtaking Journey cyclists, see http://breathtakingjourney.blogspot.com/
June 2009
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