Weavers, mill owners, poets, radicals and uprising. The lives of 19th Century Rossendale and Lancashire brought to you in their own words. Tonight's spoken-word performance is the culmination of research and discoveries: gathering material from the archives of Rossendale Reference Libraries; visiting the historic sites which have inspired and informed the texts; and finding poets and texts on the way. This is a presentation of that discovery: from dialect poetry to the last words of Haslingden weavers. With extracts from novels, diary and memoir, this is a stirring insight into the literature and struggles of the industrial revolution- the eye witnesses and the art. Performers will be Julian Hill Julian writes for theatre. He has had plays produced at Manchester Contact Theatre, (The Last Cry), Buty Met, (One) and the Kings Arms, Salford (Creditors, an adaptation of Strindberg). He trained as an actor at RADA and at Arden School of Theatre in writing for the stage. The stories of Rossendale and Lancashire have inspired me as a performer and writer, Ive discovered voices that are rich in their language, that still have a power that is vital and direct. Jennifer Reid Jennifer performs Victorian and Georgian Lancashire dialect work song and broadside ballads sung on the streets of Manchester. After collaborating with Jeremy Deller at the Venice Biennale in 2015, she has performed internationally and locally to support communities to express their identity and heritage by understanding global capitalism through song. She performs, researches, collects, teaches, writes, sings and talks to make sure the tradition is preserved in a way that everyone can access. Neil Bell Neil studied drama at Oldham College and has acted in numerous films, plays and television dramas. Highlights include: 'Dead Man's Shoes' (2004) and more recently as the great reformer Samuel Bamford in Mike Leigh's film Peterloo (2018) Amongst his many television roles he has appeared in Coronation Street, Downton Abbey and Peaky Blinders. In 2004, he wrote, directed and starred in a biographical play about the Salford-born poet John Cooper Clarke called 36 Hours. Neil has has directed for theatre the plays Old Ground (2017)about the Moors murder case and New Dawn Fades about the Manchester band Joy Division (2016). In 2021, Bell played the role of the Sardaukar Bashar in the Denis Villeneuve's Dune. Following this, Neil played the role of Max in the 2023 British independent film Wait for Me. He played the custody officer in Adolescence (Netflix - 2025) There will be a post performance discussion.