Using to cross a dockers built a workers in need

eluctantly accepted £28,000 each to nd their dispute. It was not the end of he story. They poured some of their ay-off money into retraining workhops, one of which involved a creative writing class, where mmy Mcgovern and vine Welsh gave tuition. Out of that came an greement, brokered by Mcgovern, that they would make a film about heir struggle. There were two conditions – he dockers had to write t, with Mcgovern diting”, and they would eceive all the proceeds. Channel 4 bit their ands off, and in 1999 the V movie Dockers hit the screens, tarring Ken Stott, Crissy Rock and icky Tomlinson.

The dockers wanted to leave a lasting legacy to the spirit of collectivism. So they used the £127,000 they received from Channel 4 to buy and renovate The Casa, turning it into a community hub run on not-for-profit, socialist ideals.

Downstairs became a bar and function room for parties, charity fundraisers, meetings, recitals, dramas, or rallies to promote progressive political causes.

The floor above became an IT training centre, which helped people gain computer skills and find work.

The third floor became a welfare advice centre offering free, expert help from professionals about benefits, debt, employment, asylum and health, or simply on how to fill out a form. Over the past 18 years it is estimated that more than £15million worth of free advice has been given out here to people in desperate need.

Both my grandads were Liverpool dockers who died long before that landmark dispute.

I occasionally try to imagine, when I’m in The Casa, what they would make of the willingness of men who followed them to lose their livelihoods through a refusal to cross a picket line, and the monument to that principle that they built in a street called Hope.

I’m sure they would both be proud. Because the dockers’ story says that no matter what you throw at workingclass people, when they stick together and fight relentlessly for what they believe in, they won’t be beaten.

A founding TUC principle everyone involved with it would do well to remember on its 150th birthday.

UNITED FRONT Liverpool dockers on picket line A four-part documentary about Oscar Pistorius’ killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013 airs on Amazon Prime from tomorrow.Directed by Vaughan Sivel and made over three years with exclusive access to some of the key players, the film explores the tragedy of Reeva’s death in the context of South Africa’s society.It follows the challenges, hopes and triumphs of both the Paralympic and Olympic sprinter and the tragic end to his and Reeva’s dreams.It will air in more than 200 countries around the world.

Joanna Lumley covers 7,000 miles across continents, deserts and mountains in her new ITV travelogue Silk Road Adventure next week.But she said it was “awful” and “shocking” that“every train we’ve travelled on, in every part of the world, is better than any British train.“It hurt me terribly because... I love the idea of ‘our trains’ and ‘we invented them’ and put down railroads wherever we went in the world.”

LOVERS Reeva Steenkamp & Pistorius