Calls for Havering Council to maintain land in Rainham with memorial to tragic event.

Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham and Rainham, has contacted Havering Council’s Chief Executive to urge that the Council properly maintain the grassed amenity area near to Rainham Library, as this piece of land has the memorial to a tragic event in Rainham’s history.

Sean Connolly, a Rainham resident and Chair of the local Unite Trade Union branch and of the Barking, Dagenham and Havering Trades Council, said: “Jon Cruddas MP and I planted this oak tree alongside the commemorative stone and plaque in April 2018 to remember the tragic loss of seven workers’ lives as well as the sixty nine other workers and residents who were seriously injured in the fire and explosion that took place at the Rainham Chemical Works factory on 14 September 1916.

Our heritage and the lives of these workers should be continually honoured, so it saddens me to see this plot left so untidy, overgrown and littered.”

Margaret told the Havering Daily: “I am glad that Sean brought this to my attention, I immediately called on Havering Council to attend to this. The workers who lost their lives during World War 1 at the factory in Ferry Lane deserve to be commemorated with respect. At a time when there are threats from government to reduce rights to health and safety at work and deregulate conditions, it is so important to remind ourselves of the need for strong safety standards.”

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