The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival

Tolpuddle has been a place of great importance to the Labour Movement from the moment news broke of the harsh sentences imposed on the six farm workers who led the formation of the union. Small commemorative events had been organised since the big win for the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The first known ‘Festival’ took place in 1922 jointly organised by the Working Women’s Club Fete and the National Union of Agricultural Workers.

In 1934, the centenary year of the arrests, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) celebrated in style. Unions had paid a farthing per member for two years to establish the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Memorial Trust – a charity that was used to pay for the 100th year commemorations and the building of the retirement cottages for farmworkers. It was a lavish affair involving a range of activities such as sporting, writing and brass band competitions. A grand procession and pageant took place in nearby Dorchester.

By the 1990s the format of a regular procession with speeches had lost its appeal, and attendance was falling. In 1997, Nigel Costley, the new South West TUC Regional Secretary, with the help of Dick Muskett from the Workers Beer Company, began to revive the event with more music, entertainment, and diverse speakers. The mix proved popular, and attendance stared to build. With the use of the neighbouring field, the Festival added camping so that people could come for the whole weekend.

Today, the Festival is well-known in the trade union movement, with links formed across the world as people come together every year to commemorate the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, celebrate the voice of workers and build on campaigns to improve the lives of working people around the world.

Thousands of people descend on the little village of Tolpuddle for the weekend, with numbers swelling for the big Sunday procession, wreath-laying at the site of one Martyr's grave, a big rally with leading voices from the union movement, and lots of music.