Peter Lazenby
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THE Morning Star’s intrepid Pedal4Progress cyclists set off from Liverpool on the first leg of their 160-mile trans-Pennine ride to Hull today having already raised almost £3,000 for the paper.
They were given a send-off by around 50 supporters outside union Unite’s regional headquarters in Liverpool where TUC north-west region secretary Jay McKenna told the gathering the team was “inspirational.”
He said the Morning Star had a key role to play as industrial struggles across Britain grow.
“This is a time when there is intensive industrial struggle in our movement,” he said. “We will need the Morning Star’s coverage in the months and years to come, spreading solidarity across our movement.”
Morning Star ambassador and actor Maxine Peake, who is one of the riders, said: “I’m doing it to support the Morning Star.
“I am proud to be ambassador for the paper. We have got to keep the paper alive.”
Ms Peake is riding the first two legs of the ride Liverpool to Manchester today and Manchester to Wortley Hall, the “workers’ stately home” outside Sheffield, on Wednesday, where a welcome reception will include Ann Scargill and Betty Cook, founders of the Women Against Pit Closures movement.
Other riders include father and daughter team Bora and Nilay Oktas.
Nilay, who is 11, said: “I’m doing it because it’s cool!”
She will ride the first leg from Liverpool to Manchester.
Her father said: “I did the last ride from Belfast to Cork and it was fantastic.
“The Morning Star is different from the mainstream papers. It covers real issues for working-class people.”
Carolyn Jones, former director of the Institute for Employment Rights, chaired the send-off and said there were three reasons the ride was important for her this year.
“First, there are more women taking part than ever before. Second, the political climate — Tory chaos and Labour struggling, with an upsurge in industrial action by workers.
“And thirdly, without the Morning Star we would be lost. It brings the industrial action and the politics together on a daily basis.”
Follow the cyclists’ progress every day in the Morning Star this week.
To support us in this challenge please donate by bank transfer to: Merseyside Morning Star, sort code 60-83-01, account number 20428060. Please reference your donation P4P10. Contact [email protected] for information.
