GLASSES will be raised in Derbyshire today in celebration of the life of a trade unionist, socialist, political campaigner and Morning Star supporter who touched the lives of hundreds of people, not only in his home region in northern England but across Europe.

John Hallsworth died suddenly on Sunday April 23 at the age of 67. On that day, he had been due to take part in a sponsored walk, an annual repeat of the legendary Kinder Scout mass trespass in Derbyshire’s Peak District, to raise money for the Morning Star.

It was not to be.

John was a remarkable man. He was born and brought up in Salford in Greater Manchester. He worked as an engineer, but took up trade union education, teaching at Manchester College of Art and Technology and Tameside College. His trade union educational work took him to Germany, Portugal and Italy, lecturing on trade union issues.

He had moved to Glossop in Derbyshire, where he became a Labour councillor as a young man and was instrumental in breaking up an alliance of Labour and Tory councillors on High Peak Borough Council. Labour took control and John became leader of the council. He was a councillor for 20 years.

In 2013 he left the Labour Party and joined the Communist Party of Britain, becoming an active member.

John also played a leading role in invigorating Glossop Labour Club, transforming it from a moribund organisation into a centre of radical political activity, with a regular Red Film Night, public meetings, benefit concerts for the children of Gaza, Morning Star fundraisers and other activities. Today it thrives as an independent socialist club, and it is there that John’s family and friends will be gathering today to celebrate his life.

The story of John’s life is best told by those who knew him best, and longest.

Vic Eddisford, now 92, is one of them. The two were leading organisers of Glossop Miners’ Support Group during the epic strike against pit closures of 1984-5.

“We were in engineering together. I was in the Communist Party and John was in the Labour Party, and we did a lot of work together on progressive issues including the miners’ strike,” he told the Morning Star.

“We led a march through Glossop for the miners and held a meeting which I chaired and which John spoke at.

“He was committed to everything he tackled.

“John was one of the architects of change at Glossop Labour Club. In the old days we just kept it going on a shoestring. John changed all that. It became independent of the Labour Party, and became wider.

“I think the important thing about John was that he travelled his own way along the road to socialism.”

Annie Hopley was a family friend. She told how, as councillors, John and her husband Joe broke up the Labour-Tory coalition running High Peak Borough Council.

“There was no coup,” she said. “They took the Labour supporters with them. That shows John’s tenacity.

“Then there was his work as a trade union tutor. They delivered trade union training courses all over Europe — Germany, Portugal, Italy. This was at a time when in some countries it was a bit dodgy to be doing that.

“In Italy for example the status quo was for trade unions to know their place and be grateful for whatever the companies or managers gave them. They were trying to break the attitude of compliance.

“But John also did a lot of kindnesses on the quiet. I was travelling with him on a bus and a small child got on with no money. John quietly got up and went to the driver and paid his fare.”

Rob Clayton runs the regular folk night at Glossop Labour Club, at which John was a regular unaccompanied singer.

“I knew John for years. Our kids went to the same comprehensive school in Glossop and John was on the board of governors,” he said.

“When the Labour Club was being refurbished the folk club was without a home so we pitched up there. John made everybody welcome. He had time for everybody. He loved to sing. He sang a lot of traditional songs, and songs with a socialist message. He had a lovely voice.

“He died on a Sunday and we decided to have our regular session on the Tuesday in tribute to John. It was hard at first but it got going and was what John would have wanted.”

John was a regular supporter of Morning Star benefit concerts staged at the Trades Club at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where he will be greatly missed. He was always ready to lend a hand in the event of a shortage of volunteers to sell raffle tickets and other jobs.

A measure of the respect in which John was held can be gleaned from the dozens of messages and tributes which inundated Glossop Labour Club following his death, including tributes from Greater Manchester branch of the Communist Party of Britain, Momentum, the People’s Assembly and the Labour Party.

John’s wife is Joy, and they have a daughter and a son, Sarah and Ben.

The celebration of John’s life at Glossop Labour Club starts at 2pm.