It’s not just preserving a progressive tradition but pointing the way forward, writes Michael Hindley.

I was so pleased to attend the annual “Clarion Sunday” at Britain’s last Clarion House in Pendle, Lancashire.

The original Clarion House was founded in 1899 by Nelson Independent Labour Party and moved to the present site in 1912.

Nelson itself had a meteoric rise as a cotton town from the mid-nineteenth century, when the population rose from four thousand in the 1860s to twenty thousand in the 1890s. As a ‘new’ town it attracted many workers, whose progressive views had hindered their employment chances elsewhere in the East Lancashire textile belt. Nelson provided fertile ground for dissidents, which resulted in the town having the highest per capita number of conscientious objectors in World War One. These objectors were bravely supported by local women in peace demonstrations. East Lancashire has an admirable record of working class woman activists exemplified by the recent and welcome rediscovered novelist, Great Harwood born, Ethel Carnie Holdsworth (1886-1962).

It was the escape from the grime and clamour of the mill towns to the fresh countryside that sparked the Clarion movement and it was the bicycle which often facilitated access as well as a good ramble.

This tradition continues with the “Clarion Sunday” event and this year’s celebration attracted Clarion clubs from near and far.

Land was bought between the pretty hamlets of Roughlee and Newchurch and all work was done by volunteers, and still is. The land is still in cooperative ownership.

The Clarion House provides a beautiful view and a venue for book presentations, talks from guest speakers, agit-prop theatre, choir concerts and meetings. There are no tables inside, only benches, so visitors and regulars are drawn into conversations, which begin with ‘where are you from’ and soon progress to politics of the progressive kind. In a word, which has cropped up constantly in the Clarion’s history, ‘fellowship’.

Clarion House has moved with the times and has a small eco-garden. And you can still get a pint mug of tea and bring your own food.

If there is to be a revival of progressive politics in Britain it must be by recreating the spirt of the fellowship so richly preserved at the Clarion. It’s much better than relying on focus groups to determine policy.

As the East Lancashire Clarion sang at the celebration: “Real Change comes from Below.”

There is an excellent video on Clarion House directed by Charlotte Bill on youtube: roughlee.org.uk/clarion-house/ Clarion House is open on Sundays. 39 Jinny Lane, Newchurch in Pendle. You can join: clarionhousefriends@gmail.com

Michael Hindley is a former member of the European Parliament and a freelance writer and speaker on international politics. This article first appeared on his substack here. You can follow him on: @hindleylancs.bsky.social