Spen united to remember Jo this weekend

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the murder of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox and is set to be marked with get-togethers to celebrate the spirit of community she always championed.
Jo CoxJo Cox
Jo Cox

Earlier this year Mrs Cox’s husband Brendan decided the best way to mark the anniversary was bringing people together over the weekend, from June 16 to June 18.

The result is more than 110,000 The Great Get-Together events being held across the country and not least in the Spenborough area she served.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Kirklees’ arts partners Creative Scene are bringing Ska band The Baghdaddies to Cleckheaton’s Memorial Park from 1pm-3pm on Saturday, June 17. Cleckheaton Churches Together are organising a “Picnic in the Park” to bring all sections of the community together to have fun, share tea and cake - and enjoy great music.

Local vicar the Rev Brunel James said: “What happened to Jo Cox isn’t just a news story - in the Spen Valley it’s our story. She stood up for positive values in our community, and it seems more important than ever for us to come together and show that we have more in common than the things that divide us”

And earlier on Saturday, Grove Community Library at Grove United Reformed Church, Oxford Road, Gomersal, from 10am to noon. It will have bric-a-brac, book and jewellery stalls, a tombola, and refreshments including tea or coffee and cakes.

This week, Brendan, speaking to the Yorkshire Post, said their children Cuillin and Lejla have inevitably and understandably been his priority over the last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s for them that he initially started writing the story of their mother’s life, which will be published next week, but it also became his way of remembering the woman he fell in love with a decade earlier.