Roll of Honour

Team Black Country BNP is saddened to announce the passing of Anne Willets (63), a very active and vocal Nationalist. Anne passed away at home after a long illness.

“Anne joined the Black Country branch after a leaflet and newspaper was posted through her door in 2001,” said John Salvage, Black Country BNP correspondent. “Within a month, Anne and others went to their very first Red, White and Blue festival. From the moment she joined, Anne took to political activity in a way which put many lazy armchair Nationalists to shame.

“Week after week, month in and month out, Anne and I were often the only activists to undertake the massive task of putting the Black Country on the map,” Mr Salvage said.

“Anne attended every meeting and made sure she donated something each time, however much this may have hurt financially. I have many fond memories of meetings, activities, and fundraising initiatives where Anne made them light, breezy, and very humorous.

“In part of one particular long, hard campaign, Anne leafleted in terrible weather and her feet literally bled. On another occasion, she got rather angry with an argumentative heckler, putting him in his place. They got together at the end of the night though, apologised to each other, and ended up having a right old laugh with him buying her second favourite drink of orange juice, (tea was not available),” Mr Salvage said.

“Whilst accompanying myself on speaking engagements nationwide, Anne made many Nationalist friends and encouraged other women to get involved in leafleting. She was happy to be seen at the meetings as one of the ‘proud British ladies’.”

“Anne will be missed by everyone who knew her, and we send our condolences to her family. Without Anne, the job of putting the Black Country in a serious, and professional political position, would simply have been a terribly hard, long and lonely process. Anne always made sure she was there when it really mattered. I want to say thanks Anne, God bless you; we’ll make sure all your hard work is never going to be in vain. See you on the other side.”

We grieve the loss of a sister and fellow activist. We will not forget you Anne. We never forget.

Councillor Nigel Williamson of Broughton, Cockermouth, Cumbria, died on Tuesday 18th March 2008, at his home, of a heart attack.Born in Whitehaven in 1957, Nigel was educated at Bransty junior and Richmond secondary school. He left school and joined the army for a time then worked locally in various jobs before moving away to London to further his education and find better employment.

Being a Cumbrian at heart it was a great joy to Nigel to be re-united with his childhood sweetheart Martine and move back to Cumbria where they married and made their home in Broughton, a small village just outside Cockermouth.

Always a British Patriot, Nigel’s increasing concerns about the nation brought him to the British National Party. He joined and soon became a tireless activist and campaigner. Nigel was instrumental in setting up the Copeland group of the BNPand was group secretary. He was also a key member of Cumbria BNP security and has helped keep the Chairman and countless others safe in meetings, the RWB festival and events as challenging as the free speech debate in the Oxford Union.

His commitment to the local community was rewarded last November when he was co-opted onto Broughton Moor Parish Council, becoming the first British National Party Parish Councillor in Cumbria. As well as his work for the Parish he was a “digi-pal” for Help the Aged, assisting with the digital switchover in Copeland, an active member of ABEX the Association of British Ex-servicemen and was due to start further volunteer work with Age Concern.

He was a true Patriot and friend and will be missed and remembered by all who knew him.

Our thoughts are with his wife Martine.

Les was a well known and well respected member of the community in Carlisle and his passing has brought deep sadness to many people.

I sit here now trying to write a second obituary for a friend within the space of a month and I fear I cannot do him justice in this piece.

Personally I would like to say that Les Griffiths was a strong man, a man who would never turn away from a fight and even though he wasn't in the best of health he stood forward to fight for the people of Upperby, where he was born and brought up, putting himself forward to represent the people of Upperby in these vital city elections, as the British National Party candidate.

Our regular monthly meetings in Carlisle were held in Les's pub, the London Tavern, and much more than that the Tavern became our base camp for this election campaign. Not only did Les open the Tavern on Sundays for us at 9am, he allowed the pub to be turned into a proper HQ on those days of action, with large scale maps set out on the tables for all the wards, literature stocks and maps there to equip the activist's. On Sunday, 6th April, Les was delighted to host the Chairman of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, who attended the tavern to sign and present Les with his red, white and blue, BNP rosette for the campaign. Much more than a campaign HQ the Tavern was where we all ended up after every long day of campaigning and we were welcomed there by Les, his staff and customers.

The centre of our tightly knit British National Party community in Carlisle is missing a brother and great Patriot today. Les Griffiths died as he lived- fighting for what he believed in.

By Clive Jefferson