SCHOOLCHILDREN in Blackwood are taking part in a special event next month to celebrate the area's link with the Chartist movement.

Pupils from schools across Blackwood will gather at the Chartist Bridge on November 6.

They will be joined by local councillors for the short walk across the bridge to the 8m high Chartist statue, depicting a protester striding towards Newport.

Artist Sebastien Boyesen was commissioned by Caerphilly council to create the statue, made of thousands of steel rings, as a tribute to the links Chartists had with the area.

Leader of Caerphilly council, Lindsay Whittle, will deliver a speech to commemorate the Chartist movement.

The celebrations will take place at 10am and the bridge will be closed to traffic for one-and-a-half hours during the ceremony.

Blackwood Mayor Andrew Farina-Childs said: "It's very important for what they achieved to recognise the importance of that and keep that alive in people's memories. What they did was fantastic and without them, where would we have been?"

The movement was founded in the late 1830s, to campaign for political reform and to extend the right to vote.

A people's charter was drafted in 1838 by William Lovett outlining changes to redress the situation, giving the movement its name.

On November 4 1839, Chartists took up arms and marched on Newport to try to get their demands met.

The group was led by John Frost of Newport, Zephaniah Williams from Argoed and William Jones of Pontypool.

Chartists from the Sirhowy Valley joined their comrades in the journey to the Westgate hotel in a show of solidarity and force, where they had learned fellow Chartists were being imprisoned The group gathered outside the hotel and demanded the release of the men, which resulted in the deaths of 22 people.

The Chartists' demands

  • Votes for all men
  • Equal electoral districts
  • The removal of the property qualification for MPs
  • The payments of MPs
  • Annual general elections
  • The secret ballot.