AWARD-WINNNING film director Ken Loach is coming to York later this month to attend a Workers Memorial Day event organised by York TUC.

The free event, which will include a showing of Loach’s topical film Riff Raff, takes place on Friday April 28 at the York Early Music Centre, just off Walmgate.

Bri Clark, Vice President of York TUC, said there will be short speeches from York TUC president Leigh Wilks and York Central Labour MP Rachael Maskell.

Ken Loach will give an introduction to his work, which most recently has included the film “I, Daniel Blake,’ about the bureaucratic nightmare of the benefits system, with previous landmark films including Cathy Come Home and Kes.

There will also be a short service of remembrance for Workers’ Memorial Day by a humanist minister.

Bri said that every day, more people were killed at work than in war- with many scores of former York Carriageworks employees killed by their exposure there to asbestos dust - and the Memorial Day was about remembering the dead and fighting for the living.

Riff Raff is a 1991 film, starring Robert Carlyle and Ricky Tomlinson, which won the 1991 European Film Award Best Picture award.

It is a naturalistic portrayal of modern Britain, following Stevie, played by Robert Carlyle, a Glaswegian recently released from prison who has moved to London and got a job on a building site turning a derelict hospital into luxury apartment

Bri said the memorial day event, which starts at 12 noon,is free but tickets were expected to be in demand, so people should book as soon as possible by going to :https://www.eventbrite.com/e/workers-memorial-day-event-tickets-33408435530 or searching for York TUC.