Brian Hodgson Memorial Lecture Tonight: Jack Straw

Fri 12 Jul, 11:25

Tonight Friday (12th) at 8.00 in Chipping Norton Town Hall, our new MP, Sean Woodcock, is expected to chair the BRIAN HODGSON MEMORIAL LECTURE. Arranged before the recent General Election, Jack Straw's talk is entitled "Pitfalls of Power- Lessons for a new Labour Government". Jack Straw was in Cabinet for the whole of the last Labour Government,  and this is a unique opportunity for a thoughtful discussion of where the newly elected Government should go. 

People of all political persuasions are very welcome. The event is sponsored by the local Labour Party branch and is FREE. There will, however, be a collection in aid of branch funds.

Newcomers to Charlbury might not know that Brian Hodgson was a former leader of the Labour group on Oxfordshire County Council, and served as councillor for Charlbury and surrounding villages. He moved to Stonesfield in 1966, and lived there until his death in 2007, aged 68.

Brian's strong Labour Party background involved not just an immersion in local politics, but also activity with traditional socialist issues, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Workers' Education Association and the annual Levellers Day at Burford. 

He was also a chairman of the West Oxfordshire branch of the United Nations Association and took a leading role in the branch's fundraising of £32,000 for the Adopt A Minefield scheme. Up to his death in 2007, Mr Hodgson was also chairman of the Witney constituency Labour Party.