Socially distanced 'riot' planned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Telford's Cinderloo tragedy
A group commemorating the Cinderloo Uprising in which striking miners were killed is now organising the world's first socially distanced riot.
Cinderloo 1821 are planning several events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the uprising at Old Park (modern day central Telford). On February 2, 1821, 3,000 miners, women and children marched in protest at increasing pay cuts and increasing poverty.
The military was called in and two miners were killed, and a third, Thomas Palin, was hanged.
Cinderloo 1821 works to preserve the memory of that day and the area's working heritage, though coronavirus has created new hurdles for commemoration events.
The group is appealing to individuals, local organisations, social media communities and trade unions to record a sentence stating something that they would like to change.
For example, the Cinderloo marchers called for "a bigger loaf and a stop to a pay cut of sixpence a day" – today this might be a slogan relating to Covid-19, support for our NHS, in favour of a living wage for carers, Black Lives Matters or in support of a local environmental campaign.
Audiovisual show
Cinderloo 1821 is asking people to make short audio recordings, 10 seconds at most, and email the sound file to cinderloovoices@junctionbox98.net where the recordings will be edited to recreate the noise of a loud and passionate crowd.
The sounds will be combined with images, artwork and video about the events 200 years ago as part of an audio-visual light show that will be broadcast in a central Telford location and streamed through social media channels early in February.
The group is working with Telford & Wrekin Council and Andy McKeown of Wild Strawberry from Shrewsbury, who is renowned for his large audio-visual community events and who is providing the technical support and equipment to facilitate the event.
Spokesman for Cinderloo 1821 Pete Jackson said: "We have lots of activity lined up for 2021 to commemorate the events 200 years ago which had a major impact on the communities that make up Telford today.
"We want as many individuals and groups to take part in leaving a legacy that will be available for people to look back at in 2221 to understand what the communities of Telford hoped for following the pandemic as well as remembering the women and men who stood up for the rights of working people two centuries ago."
Learn more about the group at cinderloo.com.
