Date set for Wakefield's Banners Held High Festival 2026
An event to celebrate the trades union movement and the legacy of the miner’s strike will return to Wakefield.
With Banners Held High 2026 will include guest speakers and music in the city centre as well as a parade of colliery banners.
It will take place on Saturday, May 9.
The parade will assemble at Smyth Street at 10.45am and begin at 11.30am.
There will be speakers at Wakefield Exchange, which first hosted the event last year, from 12.30pm, including Unite’s Sharon Graham, Unison’s Andrea Egan, the University and College Union’s Jo Grady and the RMT’s Eddie Dempsey.
The year’s event will mark the 100th anniversary of the UK general strike, when around 1.7 million workers walked out.
Last year the key speaker at the event was former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The festival is funded by donations from the trade union movement and advertising in its event brochure.
Adverts must be sent to [email protected] by April 2.