Spen Hudson
Spen Hudson took part in the hunger marches of the 1930s and was once jailed for his activities on behalf of the unemployed workers’ movement.
He was also active in the engineering workers’ union and, when he moved from Preston to Blackpool, helped to found the Blackpool Trades Club.
A frequent local election candidate for the Communist Party in Blackpool, he was involved in the famous 1948 “trial of the Sands”. The Tory council, upset by the success of the Communist Party’s meetings held on Blackpool’s beach, sued Spen and Tony Greenhalgh for trespass.
The case collapsed after three days when the defending council produced evidence that the land did not belong to the council but to the Blackpool Pier Company.
A life-long Communist Party member, Spen Hudson was a firm supporter of the Morning Star and died aged 85 in 1985.
Source: Morning Star 25th September 1985
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