Hawarden Park Walk: Gladstone, Dad, Airbus, Bagpipes, Ken Taylor and Bilberry Woods walk...

Off message but a post from a lovely 5 mile Easter walk in North Wales (pathfinder guide walk  5 "North Wales, Snowdon and Offa's Dyke"). 

I was brought up only a couple of miles away in Buckley, but have not been back to this area since, so it was more than a little emotional to visit places I could remember from my youth. Hawarden has the remains of a Welsh/Norman Castle and also the more modern home of  19th Century, British Prime Minister, William Gladstone. As a child I used to go conker picking in Hawarden Park.

A close school friend of mine, Ken Taylor, had a family small farm holding somewhere nearby. But I could not for the life of me remember exactly where? I suspect we walked past it.

Much of the early part of the walk is dominated by the sight of massive Airbus (aircraft manufacturer) factory in Broughton. My father, another John Gray, used to work in the factory in the 1950s and was also an active trade unionist (Assistant branch secretary of the Electricians union - now part of Unite) and a local Labour Councillor.

Seeing the size of the factory and knowing its huge importance to the local economy, you can understand the concerns that many have over its survival if things go wrong over Brexit.

Halfway thorough the walk amongst decayed World War 2 shelters, to our amazement, we could could hear someone playing the bagpipes in the middle of nowhere.  Our path took us away from the bagpipe player, so we were not able to find him (or her).

The latter part of the walk was more rural and isolated. Bilberry wood with its bluebells was lovely.
Due to the spring foliage we could not see much of either the old or new castle, so will return again another time. Hopefully, sometime very soon. 

My own family immigration story

Picture is of Labour Leader Ed Miliband, speaking today at the Airbus aircraft factory in Broughton, North East Wales.

In a major speech on immigration, Ed (the son of immigrants) made it clear that "We will never again turn our backs on people who are worried about immigration. But neither will we turn our back on the rest of the world."

He also said with regard to wages, terms and conditions  "We need to stop a race to the bottom between British citizens and workers coming here from abroad".  I think that no-one can really disagree with what Ed said but perhaps he ought to make it a little more clear that immigration isn't always a bad thing and has been part and parcel of British life for generations.

My father use to work in that factory in Broughton as an aircraft electrician. He was born and brought up in Scotland and came down to North Wales to find work.

When I was growing up in that part of North East Wales in the 1980s's the male unemployment rate was about around 33% due to the closure of local steelworks and textile mills. Being not technically minded, I had little choice to move out of North Wales to find work. For the last 26 years I have lived and worked in London.

My brother-in-law was born in the East Midlands and is an aircraft technician. He has worked as a  contractor in the same Broughton factory, off and on, over the years in-between other contracts with Airbus in France and Spain. His son is currently working in oil exploitation off the coast of South America.

While I think that we need to have honest and more open debates on immigration we also need to recognise that most of us, especially in London, are immigrants in one way or another.

US Air Force St David’s Day Pressie to North Wales

Really pleased to hear today about the 15 year, £20 Billion aviation contract from the USA Air force for 179 new in-air refuelling planes. The wings of these planes are manufactured in the Airbus site in Broughton, Flintshire, North Wales (and its factory Bristol). It is a major employer in the area with currently about 7,000 workers (a lot more elsewhere in the UK). This order will secure local jobs for many years. The Broughton factory is really vital to the local economy. Lots of skilled and relatively well paid jobs.

I was brought up only a few miles away in Buckley and the factory was always an important major local employer. My father actually came down from Scotland to work at the factory in the Early 50’s when it was owned by Dehavillands. He was a member of the Electrician Union, a shop steward and its Assistant Branch Secretary for many years.

Keeping it in the family, my “little” sister’s husband, is an aircraft technician who has worked at the site and is currently working for Airbus on its production line in Spain.

It seems that the unions in the US are “kicking off” about this order, since they wanted the work to go to Boeing. I think we can all understand this. However, I believe that 80% of the contract will still be carried out in the US?

Anyway, Hapus Dydd Dewi Sant – this is even much, much better news than last year!