CAMPAIGNERS are set to gather this weekend at the world’s oldest domestic violence commemoration site to remember those killed.

A small group will gather on Holcombe Moor, Ramsbottom this Sunday at the commemoration site where Ellen Strange was murdered by her husband in January, 1761.

Staying safe during COVID-19 has meant the annual Ellen Strange Memorial Day (ESMD) walk, which last year attracted 75 people of all ages, has been cancelled.

The walk not only remembers Ellen Strange but also includes the reading out of the names of all domestic violence victims in the previous year.

The organisers are planning on maintaining this tradition that began in 2015.

Martin McMulkin, a Bolton Councillor and Unite the union activist, said :"It is disappointing that so few of us can make it on to the Moor but it is still important to remember Ellen and the domestic violence victims of last year."

This year, the names of 123 victims will be read out; 117 are women and six men.

Internationally, the UN has described the worldwide increase in domestic abuse as a ‘shadow pandemic” alongside COVID-19.

As in previous years, a wreath will be laid to remember Ellen Strange and all domestic violence victims and there will be a small number of speeches.

A minutes silence will be observed before the organisers make the 45 minute walk back down off the moor.

The organisers are now looking to host a local public meeting, hopefully at the Emmanuel Holcombe Church, close to November 25 - the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

At this event, the soon to be released 10 minute professional documentary film on why Ellen Strange’s story from over 250 years is still relevant today will be shown.

To find out more about Ellen Strange, the booklet on her by local historian John Simpson can be downloaded at: markwritecouk.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ellen-strange-booklet.pdf