North Staffordshire Volunteers and the Spanish Civil War 1936-39:'the Passionate Cause'

Ninety years ago, a civil war in Spain was in its second year.

The elected government of Republican Spain was in a life and death struggle against rebel forces openly supported by Hitler and Mussolini.

During the course of the civil war over 2500 volunteers from Britain, Ireland and the British Empire fought for the Republican Government or served in its medical services.

Over 500 were to die in Spain.

Five men from North Staffordshire arrived in Spain in 1937; only two were to return home.

They are commemorated on a ceramic memorial plaque installed in the old Stoke Town Hall in 1989.

Historian Chris Hall will be talking about his discovery of many more volunteers connected to North Staffordshire and the reaction of the region to the Spanish Civil War.