A PACKED benefit concert at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire raised £1,200 for the Morning Star Fighting Fund on Saturday night.

Actor Maxine Peake headed a list of volunteer performers.

Ms Peake read verses from Shelley’s epic poem Masque of Anarchy, written in response to the Peterloo Massacre of August 16 1819, when sword-wielding cavalry charged a crowd of 60,000 men, women and children who gathered for a public meeting in Manchester to call for electoral democracy.

Fifteen people were killed and more than 400 injured. The dead and injured suffered sabre wounds, bayonet stabs and musket fire. The outrage sparked protests across Britain.

In 2007 a commemoration was held at the site of the massacre, and an annual memorial event has been held every year since 2007, growing in numbers each year. This year’s event is next Sunday August 16, from 1-3pm.The 1819 gathering involved workers and families walking to Manchester from more than 20 textile towns surrounding the city, for a meeting and picnic.

The annual memorial attempts to replicate the gathering, with feeder marches from the towns surrounding Manchester. This year participants are being invited to bring picnic food.

Saturday night’s concert at Hebden Bridge Trades Club included an address by Bob Oram, chair of the management committee of the People’s Press Printing Society, the readers’ co-operative which owns the Morning Star.

It was organised by Calder Valley Readers and Supporters group, with support from Bradford and District supporters group.