History will condemn this disgrace has one of teh biggest disaters to hit this town. My dear brother worked at Turner brothers thirty years ago for just six months. He has contributed so very much to this town since then. Well, he has just been diagnised with Plural mesothelioma and I am so god damn angry at this man and his comments. This factory of death and the land it once occupied should be renamed Death meadows. He gulped in breaths of this crap and now has 6 to 12 months to live. What next, will the council be saying they did all they could when people living in teh town flats are diagnised with illnesses because of these transmitters teh council has sited on the tops of these horrid buildings. Or do Rochdale people have to wait another thirty years beforee we blame town planners and managers of the past.
This 'Dick' character should be stripped of his MBE or hand it back out of respect. stripped

Turner and Newall actually built a unit called AMFU (Alternative Materials & Fibres Unit) on the Spotland site. The object of the unit was to find an alternative material for ecery known application of asbestos fibres. So when other authorities banned the use of asbestos, Turners had a proven alternative material. The use of these materials led to what is left of the Turners empire, namely TBA Textiles, which still operates in Spotland.

Mr Kelly almost defends this ‘Dick’ and The Factory of Death. Listen pal, the evidence is clear Turner Brothers knew many summers before they opened this AMFU on the Scotland site. They chose to cover up evidence by hiding documents. There are copies of minutes and a raft of documents on the subject. Even our greedy self serving MP of the time who was elected by Rochdale people to serve in Parliament the custodian of our civil liberties chose to buddy up with Turner brothers by reading a speech, in Parliament that the Turner brothers MP wrote. Smith also purchased shares in the factory of death. Now the local MP claims Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Nellie Kershaw, she is in an unmarked grave at Rochdale Cemetery and her dearly departed soul was responsible for the coining of ‘asbestosis’ way back in 1932.
Smith and this Dick should hand their MBE’s back since they are as clear as crystal on what the factory represented and with the benefit of hindsight. On the one hand Smith claims he did not know and fought for jobs. In a recent BBC program he claims people had a choice to work at the factory. Well hello these people did not have the benefit of real hard evidence as he and Turners did. We lived in an environment then, as now. Most people don’t give a damn about politics and possible health dangers. That is what M.P’s are elected for, because they hold power to legislate. If you need any further evidence then look at the smoking ban. I was a smoker who I hope has conquered my addiction. Please do not insult the workers they did not have resources to buy any shares but worked in blissful ignorance of the real danger.

Henry Kelly and his response was like Turner brothers, at the time they set up this so called AMFU, it was responding too late to save itself. The cold facts are that this factory planted a seed that dwells within people, when it develops it does so with such ferocity that it breaths a cold icy breath of death on the neck of the poor person who has any, any association with this factory whether by being a worker or someone living with a worker who would bring this crap home with them. So Sir Bloody Cyril, not everyone had a choice and you, Dick and many others did bugger all.

David misses my point entirely. Turners had an alerneative fiber for every application for asbestos. They could have then decided to ban the manufacture of asebestos textile from that time. However they waited for the authorities to do this first. Why? because they owned most of the asbestos mines in Canada and interests in Zimbabwe. The fact is making asbestos textiles was far more profitable, indeed the company had a wordwide monopoly on some asbestos products.

Copy of letter submitted to Observer Letters Page. Regarding Sir Cyril Smith, Turner and Newall, and the 1981 Debate on Asbestos. Sir Cyril Smith spoke at length on the good safety record of Turner and Newall, The technical problems of production, the need for less regulation, unfair competition from abroad etc. At one point the Speaker had to correct him and explain that the amendment was not about an immediate ban, (therefore no immediate loss of jobs)
According to the The New Statesman, The speech Sir Cyril Smith made was almost identical to the speech Turner and Newall drafted for him. He reserved seats in the Public Gallery for Directors of T+N (to hear his speech) and invited them to dine in the House of Commons. T+N knew in the 60s that many people who had no connection with raw asbestos production were dying from asbestos diseases. Dockers were refusing to unload bales of asbestos, builders and insulation engineers were refusing to work with their products. Yet in the 1981 debate, Sir Cyril Smith (with advise from T+N) declared in the House of Commons ”People at large are not at risk and it is necessary to say this time and time again” No wonder fellow MPs cried shame when he spoke in the following 1983 debate. T+N found the perfect champion in Sir Cyril Smith. They could not have a better representative.
Sylvia Conway

Absolutely!!!! TBA knew, the equivalent of the health and safety executive knew but to add insult to injury the very man elected to safeguard our interests knew too. I have heard this Sir Cyril’s interviews on TV and in the press and he claims, bless him, he did it all for jobs and claims people had a choice whether to work, as your last contributor describes, at the factory of death. This once MP could have put his constituents on proper notice so they could make an informed choice. Having said that, who having spent a lifetime living in spotland would have put his family at risk of poverty. Trouble is, today Smiths pals are passing off his shameful failure to act as long gone and claim we al wish we had the benefit of hindsight. This Smith knew, he knew and could have put the very people who elected him on notice or at least beg Parliament to close this factory. This is why John Bright stands proud in this town. He was both an employer but he also fought for better conditions putting the future of the towns workers first. He did not go to Parliament and refer to speeches written by the likes of Turner Brothers board. John Brought for Rochdale people. It turns out Smith was all self-serving with the sprinkle of talk that impressed the blissfully unaware. He is a coward and a cheat and I agree, he should hand his MBE back. Please, while we are on the subject of statutes to local heroes don’t any suggest a statute of this former MP when he is dead and gone. My brother is 54 and is about to die of mesothelioma having worked at TBA for just six weeks in 1977. If there is ever a statute of this man then I shall be the first to spit on it, possibly with spital full of Asbestos and please the New Mp don’t dare excuse this shameful individuals sleaze by passing it off as being thirty years ago or “We could all do better with the benefit of hindsight”. It was his job to scrutinise documents, policy and actions by others that would affect the town folk. Alas, he did bugger all and his inactions and acquiescence to TBA’s cover up is now, today killing Rochdale people. Many wont be able to live past fifty let alone Smith’s eighty years, so stop treating Smith as the victim because he is eighty. I am glad he is alive to witness the results of his wrongs.

I accept I misinterpreted Henry Kelly’s first point and offer my sorrow. You know Sir, we all make mistakes and I have made a few myself. I have only just grasped the very real devastation mesothelioma is causing to Rochdale people. It probably represents Rochdale’s biggest killer next to heart disease. I am bereft of hope, I really am that Turner Brothers and it’s former M.P have been responsible for helping so many nice Rochdale workers give their lives to this dirty town by sending them to an early and painful death and all for the sordid topic coin. It angers me that the people charged with safeguarding their interests live on to enjoy massive public pensions in comfort while the inactions of those charged with a community responsibility have seen to it that the cold icy breath of death leaves them fighting for life, compensation and a desire to ensure the Valley of Death are never, ever built on (I am referring to Spodden Valley). But oh what’s the point, why don’t we all bugger off to New Zealand or somewhere else because we can only ever hope that politicians will apply their best endeavours by representing us. Alas this Sir Cyril character failed in his duty so for those with Mesothelioma it’s a case of sorry, ‘Last one out switch the lights out’. But I love every god damn one of you and it’s the god given duty of those with health to fight on in your memory and bring these people with dirty hands to account, despite their age and vulnerability because politicians of today pass it off bas mistakes of yesteryear. Well, his people are dying today and he just cannot bring himself to say sorry and hand his pension and his MBE over to those he failed miserably. Those who come to us to explain his actions and those wanting to develop land had better come to the people of this town with clean hands in future because we are learning valuable lessons or are we? Just ask the passionate Spodden Valley campaigners whose efforts have been high jacked by the politicians of today. I think Mr Addy and the real people are articulating the real death and devastation that this site represents which should be turned over as memorial to those slain by this factory and its supporters. Trouble is, no bugger is hearing

David Lingard is an honourable person. He has the guts to name names and tell the truth. Another such is Jason Addy, these guys do what they do out of pure conviction and to try and undo the mistakes of the past. No MBE's or posh houses in War Office Road for them I guess. But at least they can sleep at night......