TUC LGBT+ Conference 2026 - Brighton
2026-06-25 - 2026-06-27
The TUC LGBT+ Conference will take place at the Double Tree by Hilton, Brighton, 25-26 June 2026

Women Chainmakers Festival - Cradley Heath
2026-06-27 - 2026-06-28
In 1910 the Women Chainmakers of Cradley Heath fought a successful 10-week dispute to establish the right to a minimum wage for their labour. Each year the Women Chainmakers Festival recognises and celebrates the role of women within the trade union movement and aims to reclaim the often forgotten contribution of women to Britain’s industrial heritage. The family friendly festival usually includes a banner procession, history tent, activities for children, music and speakers.

Durham Miners Gala
2026-07-11
Held on the second Saturday of July the Durham Miners Gala sees trade unionists from across the country descend on Durham city and the event has developed into the largest gathering of trade unionists in the country. Highlights include wave after wave of banners, each typically accompanied by a brass band, which are marched to the old Racecourse, where political speeches are delivered. In the afternoon a miners’ service is also held in Durham Cathedral which may include the blessing of any new banners.
In 2026 the Gala marks its 140th anniversary – make sure you put time in your diary to join one of the most important days in the trade union calendar. Find out more – Gala information – Friends of Durham Miners’ Gala
The Past We Inherit. The Future We Build.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival
2026-07-17 - 2026-07-19
This annual festival where thousands of people come together to celebrate trade unionism and remember the role of the Tolpuddle Martyrs offers a full programme of traditional and contemporary music and other attractions.
There has been an annual gathering to mark the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs since 1930s. The event sees thousands of trade unionists from around the UK and the world descend on the small village in Dorset to celebrate the memory and legacy of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Peterloo Massacre (1819)
2026-08-16 - 2026-08-17
On 16 August 1819 60,000 people congregated in St Peter’s Field in Manchester, with demands for the right to vote, freedom from oppression and justice. Despite its peaceful beginning, this was a day that would end with a bloody outcome.
Why was it called Peterloo?

From Waterloo to Manchester
In 1789 the French Revolution shook the world and the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity spread rapidly. In Britain, less than 3% of the population could vote and the system was entirely corrupt. The ideas of the French Revolution were therefore eagerly received and most powerfully expressed in Thomas Paine’s book, the Rights of Man (1791). Paine’s words inspired ordinary people to question the systems they lived under, systems that had been challenged by those across the channel. The British government prepared for war not simply to defeat the revolutionary ‘menace’ in France, but also to destroy the revolutionary ‘menace’ in Britain that Tom Paine had helped unleash. Britain eventually won the Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815) against France, but at great expense and with a huge national debt. Moreover, the militant ideas from France lived on. Returning British soldiers, like John Lees who was a veteran of the victorious battle of Waterloo, were now living not in the prosperity of the victor, but in poverty. Lees came from Oldham and when he returned home he continued his trade as a cotton spinner, but now with drastically reduced wages. Lees was one of those who protested in Manchester on 16 August 1819 and, having survived the battlefield, was to lose his life at the hands of his own army in the Peterloo Massacre. In the days that followed, the massacre was named ‘Peterloo’ by a journalist in a mocking reference to the celebrated victory at Waterloo in the Napoleonic Wars that Britain had fought. Lees’ dying words to his friend were, at ‘Waterloo there was man to man, but at Manchester it was downright murder’.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
2026-08-23 - 2026-08-24
The slave trade is a part of our history that must be condemned and never forgotten. Therefore, Unite fully supports the call for a national day of remembrance.
From 1562 when slavery began to 1865 when the transatlantic slave trade was abolished, between 10 and 28 million African men, women and children were enslaved, persecuted and their human rights denied. By the end of slavery millions had lost their lives.
Unite pays tribute to all those who campaigned – black and white – to abolish the trafficking of enslaved African labour, particularly the enslaved African men and women themselves, former African slaves such as Olaudah Equiano and Ignatius Sancho, white working class groups, parliamentarians such as William Wilberforce and many others.
Unite calls on the government to support the organisation of an annual Remembrance Day that includes educational resources and awareness raising. The disproportionate impact of the high cost of living and lack of workers’ rights including the two-tier employment status has exposed the reality of BAEM people’s daily lives.

International Day of the Disappeared
2026-08-30 - 2026-08-31
More than a human rights violation against an individual
Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.
Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world. Once largely the product of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents. Of particular concern are:

the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance;
the use by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations;
and the still widespread impunity for enforced disappearance.

Special attention must also be paid to specific groups of especially vulnerable people, like children and people with disabilities.
Hundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.

Burston Strike School Rally (1914)
2026-09-06 - 2026-09-07
On April 1st 1914 teachers Tom and Annie Higdon were dismissed from their posts in the rural village of Burston, Norfolk and with it began the ‘longest strike in history’. On that day the children marched around the village with cards hanging from their necks demanding that “We Want Our Teachers Back”.
The banner at the head of the march was inscribed with just one word “Justice”. Sixty-six of the local children had gone out on strike in support of their teachers, and the boycott of the local authority school lasted for the next twenty five years.
The Burston Strike School stands as a living monument to working class education and the struggle against rural tyranny – a true free school of the community.’

Wigan Diggers’ Festival
2026-09-12 - 2026-09-13

TUC Congress 2026 - Brighton
2026-09-13 - 2026-09-17
The 158th annual TUC Congress will be held from Sunday 13 to Wednesday 16 September 2026 in Brighton.
Background
Congress is the policy making body of the TUC; the annual congress normally meets for four days each year during September. Each affiliated union can send delegates. At congress motions are proposed and discussed and form the basis of the TUC’s work for the next year. Congress is usually attended by about 600 delegates from approximately 48 affiliated unions, has an exhibition, a comprehensive fringe programme and receptions and an annual General Council dinner.
Around 3,000 people would normally come through the doors over the course of the four days to take part in debate, the fringe, to exhibit or to report on the policy debates at Congress. This is a high-profile media event, widely regarded as the first big set piece occasion after the summer break, before the start of the political party conferences.

World Peace Day
2026-09-21 - 2026-09-22

Fairtrade Fortnight 2026
2026-09-21 - 2026-10-05

Labour Party Conference - Liverpool
2026-09-27 - 2026-10-01 | ACC Liverpool, King's Dock, Port of Liverpool, Kings Dock St,, Liverpool, L3 4FP

Battle of Cable Street (1936)
2026-10-04 - 2026-10-05
In October 1936, thousands of Londoners gathered to stop Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists marching through the East End.

Fascism will not pass

The fascists aimed to win support by dividing Londoners at a time of economic crisis, as have many other political groups past and present. Their march targeted the East End’s large Jewish community – who they used as a scapegoat for the area’s problems.
But the fascists never made it into Whitechapel. In what became known as the Battle of Cable Street, thousands of people, mainly local East Enders, came out and built barricades to stop them, clashing with police who tried to clear the way.
The event remains a symbol of Londoners’ resistance to the rise of fascism and antisemitism in the lead up to the Second World War (1939–1945).

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy annual conference 2026 - Glasgow
2026-10-19 - 2026-10-21 | Scottish Event Campus, Exhibition Way, Glasgow, G3 8YW

World Aids Day
2026-12-01
World AIDS Day is held every year on 1 December, and is a time to remember those we have lost to HIV. The red ribbon is the international symbol for HIV awareness and support for people living with HIV. But for our community, it’s more than a ribbon.
It’s remembering everyone lost to HIV.
It’s a promise to support people living with HIV.
It’s a pledge to end new cases of HIV by 2030.
It’s a stand against HIV stigma.
