A BANNER celebrating the role of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in our civil rights history is coming to the Shire Hall in Dorchester.

The commemorative banner has been gifted to the Dorchester venue after spending a year on show in the Houses of Parliament’s The Beginning of that Freedome exhibition.

The display, held to mark 750 years since the Simon de Montfort parliament and 800 years since the sealing of the Magna Carta, saw 18 large-scale banners created by nine artists to mark milestone movements in the nation’s civil rights history.

The Shire Hall is due to receive an original artwork by UK-based disabled digital artist Jason Wilsher-Mills.

He said: “I was inspired by memories of my father, a coal miner, and a lifelong member of a trade union, so the positive stories of what the unions had done to support working people were as much a part of my formative years as bedtime stories.

“I really wanted to make a banner that would pay tribute to these incredibly brave and inspiring men—the Tolpuddle Martyrs—because their actions would inspire those who were forming the very first trade unions.

“I took great time and care to choose colours, which would represent the countryside in Dorset, and the extreme conditions of life for transported prisoners in Australia.

“I wanted to create something beautiful for the martyrs that alluded to their cultural heritage—the wildlife and flowers of Dorset—while creating a narrative using metaphors and symbolism to deal with the hardships they experienced while being transported to Australia and their subsequent release.

“I used the bees to represent the journey to and from Australia. The worker bees represent the future trade union movement.”

Mr Wilsher-Mills uses high-resolution files and modern giclée printing methods to create large artworks about his disability, childhood memories, popular culture and social history.

Cllr Mary Penfold, West Dorset District Council’s portfolio holder for enabling, said: “We are delighted to be gifted this exquisite artwork for the Shire Hall, which will be available to view at Congress House, the TUC headquarters in London until the revitalised Shire Hall opens in late 2017.”

Other historical milestones included in the banner exhibition included the Poor Law, the Bill of Rights, the abolition of the slave trade, the Great Reform Act, the Factory Act, the foundation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, the Race Relations Act and the Disability Discrimination Act.