A Chinese Celebration -
A Fundraising Evening
for the
Morecambe Bay Chinese Victim Support Fund

Friday 2 April 2004
Gregson Centre, Lancaster
in conjunction with
The North West Chinese Council

Everyone remembers the night of the 5th of February this year when all the emergency services searched the Bay for cockle pickers who didn't make it back to dry land. At first the total was 19 dead. Then another body found made it 20. 24 are unaccounted for, and we all hope, with a pathetic irony, that they survive somewhere, hiding from our laws that delivered them into the hands of gangmasters, and that maybe fear of these keeps them out of sight and not the cold, careless waters of the Atlantic.

We don't know the individuals - their likes and dislikes - how they felt about their work, about each other - for sure every group of people who live and work together have their likes and dislikes - one who jokes, one who is strong, one who is frail, one who looks after the stragglers, one who learnt the language a bit earlier and speaks for the others, one who's planning to marry, one who's been there, one who's sending money home - for children, for parents, for a sister or brother to study. It's difficult for us to know who they all were. But we know that like us, they had thousands of full days behind them, full of memories and hopes and, like us, a cold death by drowning in the bay was never part of the plan.

So this felt like it was going to be a strange night - a Chinese celebration. This is what we do when we lose people we knew. We celebrate their lives and what they meant to us. In this case we don't yet know the full import of what they brought us - it's still coming and there will be much more. But one thing we are finding out is that despite the mean pittance these workers were paid, they were still trying to be breadwinners, a support to those they left behind. There is no compensation for their families. Don't expect any Public Inquiry into their employers' negligence. And hence this benefit night, in aid of the Morecambe Bay Chinese Victims Support Fund. So we shine our shoes and put on our good clothes and get out there.

And when we got there it was suddenly easy. The place was packed. Every seat taken, people sitting on the floor and crowded in standing wherever they could fit. A very familiar face - Sue Paylor, Secretary of the Gregson Community Association - MC'd the night. It's not the first fundraiser she's organised by a very long chalk - but I suspect it was the classiest.

First up were singing duo Wen Jai Dong and Wendy Chen with a guitar accompaniment from Frank Wong. The song was sweet and touching - a Chinese version of 'Where have all the flowers gone?' Flowers were a recurring theme of this celebration. Beautiful and transient.

Frank played a solo number after that - a flamenco / rock number with chinese lyrics. The house was well warmed up after this and welcomed Dr. Yanzhong Xu, Vice Executive Chairman of the North West Chinese Council to take the floor. Dr Xu originally lived in Lancaster for 8 years working and studying at the University. Now he had returned for a hard duty. He said that some blamed illegal immigration for the tragedy, but he felt it the blame should be pointed at illegal and criminal gangmasters and called for action against slave labour racketeering. His words met an audience who wholeheartedly agreed.

The next performers were a real first for the Gregson - a classical ensemble from the Royal Northern College of Music. They played a piece by Schumann - and at the risk of sounding thick (I'm more your house / trance kind of a girl) I have to say it was utterly cool - I have to listen to more stuff like this. It was passionate and then gentle, with a soft and relentless rhythm that made me think not only of the sea, but of a wide sky and wheeling birds and hope..

A complete change then when Wen Jai Dong came back to demonstrate short form T'ai Chi to music. She was very lithe and graceful - poised and present.

In great contrast she was followed by Wai Wai - a hip-hop kung fu rapper. He was terrific - especially the bit where he spoofed up chinese opera. We loved it. Wai Wai is a university student from Beijing. We have to get him back MC-ing in town.

A break for food followed - credit goes to Pat, Amy, Shane, Martin, Tom and Megan of the Gregson Centre (which donated the food for the night) who put together a selection of delicious chinese dishes - there was even a selection a vegan could eat, so a rare treat for me. Others recommended the chicken in orange and plum sauce and the prawn vegetable stir fry among many tasty-looking dishes.

A soft and lovely flute solo by Mr Xu Lian followed the break. The Gregson is a venue notorious for its noisy audiences but the quality of his performance kept us rapt.

If you knew of the work by the Refugee Support Group then you'll know Billy Pye, one of its principals and a strong member of the local community. Billy made a very moving speech. He said there had been talk about a fitting memorial for the cocklers. He believed there could be no more of a fitting memorial than to set ourselves the collective goal of making it impossible for such a tragedy to ever happen again. Backing up the earlier words of Dr Xu he pointed out that many people fall prey to gangmasters and slavers because of Britain's regressive employment laws and badly-regulated labour market. It is a fact that human traffickers specifically tempt niaive refugees and potential immigrants to the UK with false promises of a better life because they know that they can exploit them more easily here than elsewhere in Europe. The cocklers were not the first victims of this callous trade which endlessly consumes the vulnerable and desperate and they won't be the last.

The applause for Billy's very clear and informative speech nearly raised the rafters. You can read the full text of it here. It's not too long and you should.

Jacky Cui treated us to passionate vocal solo sung by a fine tenor voice.

Then we had a particularly fine exhibition of solo dance by Ms. Shuang Lian (aka Stella). It was a traditional dance in which falling flower petals symbolised the loss of a loved one - Stella moves with a co-ordination and expressive grace that, again, was an unprecedented performance for the Gregson.

The evening's live entertainment was rounded off by Lava - Howard Haigh, Andy Hornby, Guy Morris and Fitz - the latter had hitch-hiked back from mainland Europe to make the show. They played vibrant music from Syria and the Middle East.

A final and brief speech was made by Gina Tan. Gina is a Morecambrian of chinese origin - and perhaps the only person present who knew any of the victims personally. Mourning customs made it difficult for her to express herself - there is a 100 day period she must wait through. But she managed, very courageously, to face a strange audience to say a little about those lost. And we were able to begin to understand and share her sorrow at their loss and her anger at the cheap way in which some sections of the media had treated them because they were forced to live and work in poor conditions, making their situation even more precarious. 'Great Britain is a beautiful land' she said, and I felt that I had something to live up to.

She explained that the 100 days of mourning end in mid-May. At 7pm on the shore at Hest Bank there will be a memorial. (I will put the full details here and in the events listings shortly.)

I couldn't have taken a picture of Gina then - it was just too sad and too much to think about. But here's one of her with another Gina - Cllr Gina Dowding, taken at a less stressful time.

It then only remained for the raffle to be drawn and 2 lovely brush watercolours completed on the night by Ms. Nikki Li to be auctioned for a total of £85 - and then it was time to push back the chairs and let DJ Donald lay down the disco - but not before we all gave a big round of thanks to Sue Paylor for all her hard work and initiative, in conjunction with the North West Chinese Council in Manchester, in setting up the evening. Which, by the way, raised a staggering total of £1,109 (with a promise of a further substantial donation from the fire brigade union in Manchester) for the Morecambe Bay Chinese Victims Support Fund - the largest amount a Gregson fundraising event has ever made.

The Morecambe Bay Chinese Victim Support Fund has raised £10,000 so far.

Donations can be paid to the fund through your bank using the following details:

Account name: Morecambe Bay Chinese Victim Support Fund
Account number: 63060019
Bank Sort Code: 01 -10 -01

Branch: Nat West Bank plc
Manchester City Centre Branch.
11 Spring gardens, Manchester M60, 2DB.