THE North-East founder of the first miners' union was remembered at an annual service on Saturday.

The service at St Mary's Church, Heworth, Gateshead, paid tribute to the achievements of Thomas Hepburn, forefather of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Born in 1795 at Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, he was forced to start work at Urpeth Colliery at the age of eight to support his widowed mother's family.

After moving to Hetton Colliery as a coal hewer, he became a Primitive Methodist lay preacher and a Chartist agitator in the coalfields.

In 1825, Hepburn became the leader of the first mine-workers' union, the Colliers United Association of Durham and Northumberland. A campaigner for shorter hours and better education, he led an unsuccessful strike in 1832.

As a consequence, he was persecuted by mine owners and was only eventually allowed to work again when he agreed to take part in no trade union activities.

The NUM still pays tribute to his achievements, and his portrait is carried on the banners of Sacriston, Easington, Westoe, Wearmouth, Murton and Blackhall Lodge banners, as well as the area banner of the North-East NUM.

Saturday's service heard a reading from Andrew Cowgill, a pupil from the Thomas Hepburn Community School, in Gateshead, and the memorial address was given by Bob Crowe, recently elected as general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union.

An NUM spokesman said: "Bob Crowe is leading his union's struggle against more privatisation of the rail industry, the erosion of his members' terms and conditions and the worsening of safety standards. These are themes Thomas Hepburn would be well familiar with."