Lord Morris of Manchester Memorial Inaugural Lecture

The Lord Morris of Manchester Memorial Inaugural Lecture was held on 3 November. This event was the University’s first public lecture focussing on the rights and equality of disabled people, and was held in honour of Alf Morris – the world’s first Minister for Disabled People!

Venture Arts and DaDaFest provided a exhibition of artworks and videos by local disabled artists for the foyer of the Martin Harris Centre which captivated the attention of all of the guests on arrival.

Victoria Macdonald from Channel 4 News was the MC for the main event. Proceedings started with a joint choral performance by the Ad Solem Chamber Choir and the Seashell Trust Signing Choir. Professor Clive Agnew (Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and Champion of the Disabled Staff Network in the Senior Leadership Team) officially welcomed everyone on behalf of the University, before the evening’s main attraction…

It was an honour to have Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson to give the inaugural lecture. Confident, humble, inspiring and honest – her lecture was a tribute to the great Alf Morris. Tanni was joined by Jane Cordell (Result CIC) and Tom McAlpine OBE (Moodswings) on our distinguished panel for the interactive Q&A session. Victoria Macdonald kicked off with some great questions before the audience got stuck in on some tough points.

Lemn Sissay MBE, the University’s Chancellor offered his reflections on the evening, before Mike Kane MP wrapped up the evening with his vote of thanks.

The event was a great success thanks to everyone involved and all of our guests, including the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and Manchester’s Deputy Lord Mayor. The positive feedback which has been received has been overwhelming and people keep asking when will the next Memorial Lecture will be!

The video recording of the event, along with a selection of photographs and other great features can be found on the National Association of disabled staff networks website. Tanni has also blogged about the lecture which can be read here.

We would like to say thank you the Martin Harris Centre, Policy@Manchester and all of our sponsors for their amazing support.

Hamied Haroon and Melanie Shape who were responsible for organising the event would also like to say thank you to Lady Morris and Gill Morris, Mike Kane MP, Manchester Trades Union Council, North West TUC Disability Forum, our Students’ Union and our Equality and Diversity Office who helped with the organisation of the event on behalf of our Disabled Staff Network.