Mytholmroyd Net

Mytholmroyd Net

ACTION MESOTHELIOMA DAY - 2nd July 2010 Acre Mill

On Friday, 2 July 2010 events across the country are taking place to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos. From Dundee to Portsmouth, public meetings in memory of those who have died from mesothelioma and to raise much needed money towards mesothelioma research have been organised.

Locally we are remembering the people who worked at Acre Mill. Cape Asbestos moved to Acre Mill in 1939, bringing tragedy and suffering to the Calder Valley which didn't end despite the Mill being pulled down in 1971. During the 2nd World War Cape manufactured asbestos gas masks. Cape decided to stay at Acre Mill after the war, diversifying into the manufacture of other asbestos products to take advantage of the boom in asbestos trade. Many local people were made ill and died as a result of their work at Acre Mill.

See: The legacy of Acre Mill which was first published in October 2002.

Alice Jefferson

Alice Jefferson remembered

Alice Jefferson lived in Mytholmroyd and had worked at Cape Asbestos for a few months as a teenager. In her forties, Alice began to suffer breathlessness. By 1980, she was incapacitated with the disease pleural mesothelioma. She took part in a documentary called Alice a fight for Life which went out on July 20th 1982. The documentary went out at peak viewing time.

Full article: Alice Jefferson remembered

The programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.

To view extracts from the "Alice - A Fight for Life" Documentary see below.

Interview excerpts:
Part 1
Part 2

World In Action: The Dust at Acre Mill (1972) - filmed in Hebden Bridge, with interviews with formers workers of Acre Mill.

These groundbreaking documentaries retain their incredible power to highlight the damage and injustices caused by asbestos.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Action Mesothelioma Day 2010 Events

This year local people successfully fought a planning application on land near the old Cape factory.

See: Local residents block asbestos building works

See also:

Acre Mill - the story that won't go away

Halifax Courier calls for investigation of Acre Mill tragedy. October, 2003

Britain's biggest industrial disaster - but nobody bothers to count the dead

Courier calls for asbestos inquiry

Remembering ACRE MILL on Action Mesothelioma Day

Valley's darkest secret

A memorial for my mum. Halifax Courier 1st November, 2003 -

Mesothelioma: the human face of asbestos epidemic



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