Throughout the world there are many memorials to the International Brigade. Yet until 2022 there had been no public memorial to the International Brigade on Teesside, (there is one in Middlesbrough Town Hall but the public do not have access)
Thanks to John Christie this omission is now remedied. John says he grew up knowing nothing about the Teesside men who fought as volunteers in Spain with the International Brigade, but on becoming a member of The International Brigade Memorial Trust he developed an interest in the Spanish Civil War.
It was back in April 2018 after the first performance of The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff by The Young’uns in Stockton’s Arc Theatre that John was inspired to create a lasting memorial to the volunteers for liberty from his hometown of Stockton-on Tees, he suggested a memorial should be erected to the men of Stockton who volunteered to fight fascism and served in the International Brigade. John runs The Golden Smog Pub and two others in Stockton, he started a fund raising campaign to raise £6,500 for a memorial. To accompany the memorial he asked me to produce a small leaflet with the names of the men and some details, however as lockdown halted the campaign I found we had some fascinating stories to accompany that of Johnny Longstaff, we felt these needed to be told also.
The Golden Smog, Stockton-on-TeesThere is a plaque for the International Brigade in the Town Hall, nobody here knows anything about it, do you?
I had a copy of Williams, Alexander & Gorman’s book Memorials of the Spanish Civil War which gave me the basic story from which I could begin my investigation.
After a meeting in Middlesbrough Town Hall I was commissioned to produce a leaflet to inform visitors to the Town Hall on the Teesside International Brigade Memorial. I was now researching all the volunteers for liberty from Teesside. I was given six months to research and produce the leaflet, but as Lockdown occurred as we were about the launch it was decided to publish the leaflet online; you can find the leaflet HERE
My research brought me into contact with a number of people, possibly the most valuable was Martin Levy of The Communist Party of Britain for he put me in touch with a number of people who would prove to be invaluable.
Lockdown brought a halt to the Stockton Memorial campaign and hampered my research, but on 17th October 2020, a socially distanced ceremony took place.
The Volunteers for Liberty event was organised by the Communist Parties of Britain and Spain and the IBMT. As part of the Centenary celebrations for the founding of the Communist Party, on the anniversary of the last International Brigades parade in Spain, we commemorated the men and women who gave their lives for the Spanish Republic. Events were held in Cardiff, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Sheffield, Oxford, Cambridge, Crewe, Newcastle, Taunton and Southampton. Martin and myself organised two events, one in Newcastle and one on Teesside. At the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough the names of seven Teesside men listed on the Teesside Memorial was read out.
In Middlesbrough Martin Levy spoke for the Communist Party of Britain, Julio Romero spoke for the Communist Party of Spain, I spoke for the International Brigade Memorial Trust and Bob Beagrie, a senior lecturer at Teesside University, read David Marshall’s I sing of my comrades and his own composition Vagabonds. After the reading of the names a minute’s silence was held, the wreath was later cast into the River Tees as a symbolic link between Teesside and Spain.
Lockdown meant that the April 2021 Local History month events were held online, and I gave a talk on the Teesside memorial, one of twenty talks I would give in the following two years.
In October 2021 the second of our Volunteers for liberty event took place, although we followed the same format as 2020. My research meant that I was now in touch with many more relatives of volunteers. Phil Saint, a nephew of Myles Harding, was one of the relatives who attended the ceremony. Also, there was Joan Harkin, a niece of Martin Durkin, along with her were her sister, three great-nieces, a great-nephew and a great-great-nephew of Mr Durkin: Barbara Christie, Mary-Lou Bell, Anna Guest; and Edel Christie and David Byrne. Both Myles Harding and Martin Durkin were killed in Spain in 1938. Sadly due to illness Sylvia Szintia, the niece of Herbert Hodgson was unable to attend. I was overjoyed that when I heard that the daughters of a Basque refugee Fermin Magdalena would be attending, he and his brother and two sisters were evacuated from Bilbao on the Habana and eventually settled in the North East; I feel privileged to have met Julia, Sharon and Teresa, and that they are willing to share their stories with me.
In December 2021 we published I sing of my comrades the small leaflet had grown from the planned four sides of A5 to a 90 page book; and a book with very small print at that! As ever it was Gavin at MMD Media and Design who organised the editing, typesetting and printing. All proceeds from the sale of this book went to the funding campaign.
After The Golden Smog, the first place to stock the book was Drake the Bookshop. Mel and Richard have been hugely supportive, back in 2017 they sold the booklet Rosie and I hastily wrote as we began to investigate The Battle of Stockton. Now they offered me a book signing day in their wonderful shop, this took place in May 2022, just a few days after I had given another online talk for Local History month; speaking on the eight men from Stockton-on-Tees who served in the XV International Brigade
We produced badges for sale, one for each of the men and a generic Stockton Brigadisas badge, the proceeds went to the Stockton memorial fund.
After their BBC Radio 3 performance in Stockton Arc Theatre on 17th March The Young’uns took 50 badges to sell on their tour, they also agreed to sell I sing of my comrades whilst on tour. We talked about them taking a dozen books, but in the end they took two dozen ‘just in case’. On 16th April 2022 they sold all of the badges and most of the books at their Sunderland gig and as a result ordered a further 100 badges for their forthcoming Canadian tour. At Leeds the next night they sold the four books they had left over from their Sunderland gig – in two days they sold the lot.
The funding campaign was enjoyable, not least the numerous talks I gave, and we got in the Papers: The Northern Echo and The Darlington and Stockton Times
The highlight for me, though, was The Golden Smog Warriors Basketball team campaign:
It was during the first Covid Lockdown in early 2020 that a small group of ‘Smoggies’; a magnificent seven regulars of the Golden Smog pub, began discussing a pub team, they needed a sport in which the team was small enough in numbers, they had just seven players after all. Discarding the clichéd five-a-side football they opted for Basketball. John, as ever, helped Martin Beall organise these magnificent seven, helping them acquire a strip and an identity – The Golden Smog Warriors were born.
In no time the seven became eighteen, enough for a second team. Martin then asked John if there was anything The Golden Smog Warriors could promote, Smoggies already do a lot for local causes. John suggested the Stockton memorial, because due to Covid the fundraising campaign for the memorial had come to a standstill, with just over £1,000 raised it needed a jump start.
By summer 2021 the UK began to emerge from lockdown and the time was ripe to launch The Golden Smog Warriors ‘Gold Strip’. Working with Baseline in Leeds June 2021 saw the release of a limited edition kit- featuring the colours of the Spanish Republic and the emblem of the international brigade. Baseline generously agreed to donate money from each sale to the fund, Martin says:
We knew we could sell at least twenty, if we made £5 from each sale we would raise £100 for the memorial, although we were hopeful we could persuade enough people to raise a further £100, little did we know how wrong we would be.
Within six weeks The Golden Smog Warriors had sold almost sixty of these ‘No Pasaran’ shirts. Most people would have been satisfied with that, but Martin works very hard, so he organised the very first Otto Estensen Trophy competition for 1st August 2021.
Initially the competition was between The Golden Smog Warriors and Stockton Shadows, a team who competed in the local league, but as news spread the Tees Valley Mohawks joined the competition; it was a sell-out. As Martin posted on Facebook:
We aimed to make £200
The 10 kits we thought we’d sell turned into nearly 70! With them going to places like New York, Spain, France, Norway and Sweden!
The Otto Estensen Trophy event – 2 teams from the Smog and 2 local teams in Stockton Shadows and Tees Valley Mohawks kindly signed up bringing officials and spectators – it was a sell out!
3 exciting games later Tees Valley Mohawks were crowned the first ever Otto Estensen Trophy winners!
And now the most important thing….
Smashing that target of £200 we are over the moon to announce that thanks to all the support the money we have raised for the fund is a staggering…… £911!!! (August 2021)
The Shirts continued to sell at an amazing rate, and people began to post pictures of themselves proudly wearing it. By the time the sale of the shirt was discontinued, in September 2022, well over five hundred shirts had been sold.
The Otto Estensen Trophy events also continued, on 21st August 2022 the second competition was held, with a special guest: John Sutherland, the nephew of Otto Estensen, tipped off the first game of the competition and awarded the Trophy to the winning team; the Tees Valley Mohawks who retained the Trophy.
It was not just the money raised by The Golden Smog Warriors, it was also the publicity that they brought to the campaign, the images of the players in their International Brigade strip caught the attention of people from all over the world, who then contacted us about the memorial, and many ordered a copy of the book.
A copy of I sing of my Comrades in Madrid
When the Miners’ Gala returned on 9th July 2022, after a three-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the biggest Gala in decades with more than 200,000 attending. Parading proudly with the International Brigade Memorial Trust’s British Battalion banner was John, Martin and a half dozen players all in their No Pasaran Gold kit, and what a reception they received from the crowds lining the parade.
The Golden Smog Warriors went from strength to strength, they grew strong enough to compete in the Teesside League, in early 2023 they have thirty-six players who compete in two teams; Black and Gold. Sadly women are not allowed to compete in the same team as men in league games, which means that The Golden Smog Warriors formed a women’s team in early 2023, which had twenty players in May 2023 when it was announced that they would be admitted into the league for the 2023/24 season.
On 16th September 2022 John’s dream became reality; The Stockton International Brigade Memorial was erected for all the world to see. Congratulations John, but John, a wonderfully modest man, will be the first to say it was a team effort and that it would not have been possible without the support of his friends:
On 23rd September 2022 Katie Quigley sent me a message:
Nana was very touched to see the memorial for her uncle Patrick Maroney
This was really exciting news as I had been unable to trace relatives of five of the men listed on the memorial, Patrick Maroney was one of them. We were now in touch with the families of four of the men: – Otto Estensen, Myles Harding, Johnny Longstaff and now Patrick Maroney.
On Friday 21st October 2022 in Middlesbrough Town Hall council chamber I gave a talk on the The Teesside International Brigade Memorial, finally coming face to face with Tommy’s plaque.
Just two days later, on Sunday 23rd October we held our annual Volunteers for liberty event. The weather was not too kind, which meant drastically reduced numbers. We saw the return of Julio Romero who spoke for the Communist Party of Spain, with Bethan Blake speaking on behalf of the Communist Party of Britain Bob Beagrie again performed two of his poems from his collection looking at the Volunteers for Liberty.
At 11am on 12th February 2023 we assembled at the Stockton memorial to commemorate the British Battalion and the men from Teesside who lost their lives at Jarama, a report can be found here.
Five years after that performance in The ARC theatre, on Sunday 23rd April 2023, the eight volunteers were commemorated at the official dedication of the new Stockton International Brigade memorial which is located at the Wasp’s Nest Yard, off Stockton’s High Street.
Relatives of International Brigade volunteers travelled from across Britain and Ireland to take part in the dedication events. Among them was actress Elizabeth Estensen, daughter of Otto Estensen, he served in the XV Brigade anti-tank battery. Elizabeth is possibly best-known as Diane Sugden in the ITV drama Emmerdale. But she has also played leading roles in The Liver Birds and T-Bag. On the Friday she visited John Christie’s Golden Smog pub, which has a wealth of Teesside and International Brigade memorabilia, and pulled a few pints – just like the her days on Emmerdale.
The first in a series of events to mark the dedication of the memorial was a very special Otto Estensen Trophy competition. John Sutherland again tipped off the competition and the winners of the 2023 competition were awarded The Otto Estensen Trophy by Elizabeth herself.
The Trophy competition was also special as it marked the first appearance of a new Golden Smog Warriors strip. For the 2023/4 season Martin designed a new Golden Smog Warriors strip; this time it was to be a team strip not for fundraising. Keeping the Black of the Warriors’ original strip he incorporated elements from the fund raising ‘No Pasaran’ Gold shirt, and keeping true to their home, The Golden Smog, it features ‘The Alley’ as a front logo.
I love this picture taken by Gillian of Circles and Shadows Photography – https://circlesandshadowsphotography.co.uk/
If you get the chance go to https://ourimagenation.com/…/circles-and-shadows…/ have a look at her magnificent body of work and maybe even buy a work of art. I love how her image captures the new shirt, showing the popular front salute and No Pasaran logos at the top and the names of the eight volunteers at the bottom. What enriches the picture for me is the image of Adam ensuring ‘they shall not pass’ in his fund raising No Pasaran shirt; Adam supported Martin’s idea for the shirt and helped with designing this awe-inspiring visual masterpiece, a video of the strip can be found here
Later, Elizabeth and John joined other relatives and memorial campaign supporters for the procession to Stockton’s Market Cross.
Other relatives processing included George Short and Alan Short, the son and grandson respectively of George Short, who as the Communist Party’s Teesside secretary in the 1930s organised the International Brigade volunteers we were commemorating.
Alan Short, Nic Maroney, Mich Maroney, Barbara Sneath, Katie Quigley, Chris Hill and George Short.
Mich Maroney travelled from Ireland and Nic Maroney from London to join Chris Hill, Barbara Sneath and Katie Quigley. All five are relatives of Patrick Maroney. They only discovered Patrick’s role in Spain after the Stockton memorial was installed in autumn 2022. Sadly, the nephew of Myles Harding, Phil Saint and Duncan Longstaff, son of Johnny Longstaff, were unable to attend the dedication day.
Fittingly it was The Golden Smog Warriors who led the town procession to the Market Cross, where attendees heard about the April 1933 arrest of George and Phyllis Short at the Market Cross and the ‘Battle of Stockton’ (September 1933) – the George Short organised demonstration against the British Union of Fascists (BUF) which is marked by a commemorative plaque at the Market Cross.
After a minute’s silence to remember the British volunteers who did not return from Spain, the assembly sang the reunion version of Jarama Valley.
At the Wasp’s Nest Yard, the new memorial was formally dedicated. People heard that both Wilf Cowan and Otto Estensen arrived in Spain in April 1937, and poignantly that Guernica was attacked days later on 26th April 1937; a magnificent reworking of Picasso’s iconic painting by designers Abby Taylor and Owen Smith is the heart of the Stockton memorial.
The poem ‘Our Open Eyes’ by Mike Wild was read; a line of this poem is quoted on the memorial’s information plate. Mike’s father, Sam Wild, commanded the British Battalion volunteers.
Ron Brown of the Communist Party of Britain concluded the dedication ceremony. He commended the Stockton memorial campaign group for raising awareness of the men locally and nationally and spoke of their legacy.
The Evening activities at the Georgian Theatre started with pies and peas from John Buckle, Stockton’s premier pie man, see JUSTLOVEPIES.co.uk for details
Elizabeth Estensen, George and Alan Short and Katie Quigley spoke on stage about their relatives. Elizabeth spoke of her father and his comrade Tommy Chilvers, both George and Alan Short knew them. George spoke emotionally on the love and humanity that his parents and the volunteers showed to him. Katie spoke equally emotionally on her family’s pride on having such a heroic relative.
A remarkable coincidence came to light at this part of the evening. It was said that in July 1937, British officials at MI5 intercepted a letter from George Short to Patrick Maroney. Patrick had just returned from Spain and George was asking for information on Tommy Chilvers and Otto Estensen, who were still in Spain.
The audience were then treated to a superb talk by memorial designers Abby Taylor and Owen Smith, they described the fund-raising campaign, their design process and key aspects of Picasso’s masterpiece. See information here – https://abbyandowen.com/stockton-international-brigaders-memorial
Peter Widlinski, an IBMT member, spoke on behalf of Duncan Longstaff, the son of Johnny Longstaff, he described Johnny’s Second World War service.
A short film was then shown, a new documentary under production about Tommy Chilvers, Otto’s closest friend and fellow member of the XV International Brigade anti-tank battery.
The Georgian Theatre evening finished with music, songs and poetry from the Smog Singers (a group of regulars from The Golden Smog) and Bob Beagrie a poet, playwright and Teesside University Senior lecturer. 
Bob regularly reads his poems at Teesside International Brigade events, he and Project Lono have just produced a new sequence of soundscapes; bringing to life Bob’s poems about the Spanish Civil War and International Brigaders. One example, Romanceros can be found here. The collection of poems will be published by Drunk Muse Press in a book entitled ‘Romanceros‘, due out spring 2024.
The evening ended with toasts to John Christie in The Golden Smog, for doing so much to raise awareness of the volunteers for liberty, for starting this incredible journey and for being an all round nice guy.