 Families of asbestos victims will attend the ceremony |
A relative of the first person in the world to die of an asbestos related illness unveils a memorial stone to honour of asbestos victims on Friday. Nellie Kershaw died in 1924 of asbestosis and was buried in a pauper's grave in Rochdale.
More than 100 people, from all over the UK, are expected to attend the ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall.
Until 1948 Rochdale was the home to the headquarters of Turner and Newall - the world's largest asbestos company.
Schoolchildren, current workers and family members who have lost loved ones to asbestosis will attend, along with widows and widowers of mesothelioma (asbestos cancer) victims who will hold large photographs of their spouses.
Piper tribute
A Scottish Piper will play a lament prior to a one minute silence in a tribute to victims including Scottish shipyard and dock workers killed from exposure to asbestos.
Nellie Kershaw became ill in 1922 and died two years later aged 33 leaving two small children.
A rose and a remembrance card will be left at her grave.
The memorial is being laid across the Esplanade beside the Memorial Garden near the town hall.
It has been organised by the Save Spodden Valley campaign, an action group which is concerned about the release of asbestos on the former Turner and Newall factory site in Spodden Valley.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
