People who died at work are focus of Workers Memorial Day events in Corby

International Workers Memorial Day is being marked in Corby tomorrow

A play about how working life has changed will be part of the event schedule

Workers who died while doing their jobs are once again being remembered in Corby this weekend.

A play called The Planks Gave Way, directed by Paula Boulton who also wrote Women of Steel, will be one of the highlights of the International Workers Memorial Day programme which takes place tomorrow (Saturday, April 29) in Corby and has been put together by the GMB Union.

At 10am there will be the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Steel Man statue in James Ashworth square. Town councillors Alison Dalziel and Martyn Reuby will lay wreaths alongside Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate Lee Barron

At 10.20am Northants community branch secretary of the GMB Alan Irwin will speak inside the Cube

Then at 10.45, the first performance of The Planks Gave Way directed by local musician and director Paula Boulton, will take place.

The short play looks at how working life has changed since the days of men falling into the molten steel while walking over planks, asking the question ‘are we still dying at work or is work killing us?’

The script was written alongside Sami Scott and taking part will be George Reilly, Lorraine Dziarkowska, Will Allen, Alan Irwin, John Padwick, and Rachelle Wilkins from GMB.

All are welcome to join the event programme which is designed as a tribute to so many who lost their lives while at work over the years. Corby is particularly hard-hit by workplace deaths because of its history of heavy industry.