On 14th March 2024, asbestos victims and anti-asbestos campaigners gathered in Manchester and Rochdale to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Nellie Kershaw’s death. Nellie was a Rochdale mill worker, who died of asbestosis on 14th March 1924.
Nellie’s death is when this country should have stepped in to tightly regulate the asbestos industry, to prevent more deaths. We should not have had to wait until 1999 for an asbestos ban. Asbestos manufacturers like Turner Brothers Asbestos and Cape were well aware of Nellie’s story. But they continued to manufacture deadly asbestos products for decades after Nellie’s death.
A huge thanks to everyone who came to, or otherwise supported, the event. Special thanks to Mike Kane MP, Debbie Abrahams MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, and Rochdale Council leader Neil Emmott for their support.
The day attracted significant press coverage in the regional and local press:
BBC North West: https://fb.watch/rmqUJIY7EW/
Manchester Evening News: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/i-worked-bookie-life-can-28808389
Tameside Reporter & Glossop Chronicle: https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/tameside-reporter/commemorative-anniversary-event-held-to-raise-awareness-of-asbestos-diseases/
Tameside Reporter: https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/tameside-reporter/this-crisis-could-have-been-prevented-100-years-since-nellie-kershaws-death/
