Denis Blockley
Born in 1950, Blockley started work as a naval architect and a trade unionist in the Swan Hunter’s shipyard on the Tees. A member of the Young Communist League, he was presented with the TUC award for Youth in 1975. Having moved into the Communist Party by 1979 he was appointed a full time official with TASS, at the time being the youngest officer across the country.
Following the 1988 merger with ASTMS, he was an officer for MSF. He worked in the Essex area, and then the Ipswich office, keeping an involvement with the Youth Committee. He was also especially supportive of the anti-apartheid movement.
Since he died at a relatively young age in 1996, his union (and its successor, Amicus) organised a special Fund (also associated with another youngish deceased union official), which helps young people from developing nations to learn how to negotiate and to campaign for rights.
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