FORMER union boss Rodney Bickerstaffe will be visiting the region to deliver the fourth annual Joan Maynard memorial lecture later this month.

For many years he was the general secretary of one of the country's biggest unions, Unison, and he is currently president of the National Pensioners' Convention.

For his lecture he will bring together these two roles to address the question: Pensions: A State Responsibility?

MP Joan Maynard, who died in 1998, spent most of her adult life in Sowerby, Thirsk. She was vice-president of the former National Union of Agricultural Workers.

The lecture series began in 1999 when it was delivered by Tony Benn.

Subsequent speakers have included Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. The choice caused controversy when the town hall committee in Thirsk banned him from appearing at its venue and the lecture was transferred to the Trade Unionists' Centre, Middlesbrough.

Mr Bickerstaffe's lecture, at 7.30pm on September 27, will also be at the Middlesbrough venue. Admission is free.