The #MonthofMillie & Processions 2018 - Celebrating Women's Suffrage in London

SELFIE TIME AT PROCESSIONS 2018

As 2018 is the centenary of some women in the UK getting the vote, I decided I wanted to get involved in the celebrations and learn much more about the history of the women's suffrage movement.

I wanted to add to the things I thought I already knew and discover some of the lesser known stories that I didn't know. As a self-employed woman of 53, whose offspring have all flown the nest, I was fortunate enough to have time to devote to this personal project. The positive things I have gained from doing it, have far exceeded my expectations and have inspired me to do much more in the future.

As June marked Suffragist Millicent Fawcett's birthday, completing some of these things during the #MonthOfMillie was also part of the "Votes for Women" Suffragette challenge I had set myself.

Through my blog I researched and told the stories of many lesser known Suffragettes and Suffragists from Essex, Wales, and Scotland. Ireland is coming in a future blog post!

MILLICENT FAWCETT STATUE

I discovered many stories of women whose names are not as well remembered as The Pankhursts or Millicent Fawcett. I learned that  refusing to pay taxes or not filling in a census form was just as much a part of the fight for suffrage as smashing windows, planting bombs and slashing works of art.

I read Dr Fern Riddell's superb biography of Kitty Marion - Death in 10 Minutes. I read Sarah Jackson's fascinating book on the East End Suffragettes. I read Jenni Murray's  History of Britain in 21 Women and then gave it to my daughter for holiday reading as instructed! I read Anita Annad's biography of Sophia Duleep Singh alongside Emmeline Pankhurst's own autobiography to get a fuller, more rounded view of events.

I studied the iconic suffragette photography of Britain's first female press photographer, Christina Bloom, and fell in love with it so much that I bought a coffee table book!

PANKHURST MEMORIAL

I watched all the TV shows on the BBC that were
dedicated to telling the stories of the fight for women's suffrage. There was Lucy Worsley's exciting drama-documentary on militant suffragettes to soak up, Sally Lindsay's 30 minute biographical study of Emmeline Pankhurst, the Suffragettes Forever series presented by Amanda Vickery and special editions of Antiques Roadshow and the genealogy show Who do You Think You Are.

As a dedicated life long leaner, I signed up for a free online course on the Suffragettes and I also volunteered to help with spreading the word on social media about Snapping The Stiletto - a brilliant local women's community history project in Essex that celebrates strong women and offers free training on how to research archives in conjunction with local museums and Essex Records Office.


I went to see the free Museum of London suffragette collection and attended the talk 'How the Vote was won' hosted by the Fawcett Society with key speakers Elizabeth Crawford and Sumita Mukherjee - two very knowledgeable historians that I have followed on Twitter for some time

WOMEN'S HALL EXHIBITION POSTER

With my daughter, I visited Millicent Fawcett's statue - and also the Pankhurst statue nearby. I also took her to The Women's Hall re-creation in Tower Hamlets Local History Libray - just a stones throw from where she attended university at Queen Mary's over 12 years ago and also where my grandmother's working class family grew up in the East End in the 1900's through to the 1940's.

My daughter was only the second woman in our family to get a degree after me, but her grandmother and her great grandmother left school at 16 and 14, and their only option was factory or office work before marriage and having children. The significance of all of this was not lost on my daughter who, in her 30's has become a strong, focused, independent, politically aware woman who is not afraid to express her own opinions and fight for what she believes in.

Although spending quality time with my daughter was really special, the highlight of my suffragette fest, and the most immersive, uplifting and inspiring part of the experience was taking part in Processions 2018 in London,

It's not everyday that you get the chance to participate in a nationwide event, creating a living piece of art, that commemorates one of the most important moments in women's history! I grabbed that opportunity with both hands, after watching the build up to Processions 2018 on social media. I registered online and looked forward to attending my first ever "March" but I really wasn't sure what to expect!

I was staying with friends on the South Coast on the Saturday evening, and was stopping off in London to take part in Processions on my way home to Essex on the Sunday.

I did the whole walk from Hyde Park to Parliament Square carrying a large handbag AND an overnight bag. Thanks to Processions I more than met my daily step count on the Samsung Health App. I learned that history can keep you healthy physically as well as mentally fit - really important for a 50 something blogger like me who spends a LOT of time sitting in front of a laptop screen!

I had arranged to meet another woman from Essex at the entrance to Hyde Park. After connecting on social media a few days before the event, we had decided to keep each other company rather than walk by ourselves. We made our way to the start to collect our scarves. We were in with the Purple contingent. We remarked to each other that connecting with a random stranger was quite a radical thing for us both to do - but we had a lot of interests in common, and a friendship was quickly formed which I hope will continue.

 As we both waited with bated breath for the procession to get underway, the atmosphere was electric and full of happy, positive vibes. Hundreds of colourful banners with great women's suffrage slogans were being waved and carried aloft  as thousands of women gathered at the starting point, wearing green, purple or white clothing.

People were cheering, laughing, linking arms, sharing the experience together, and taking pictures and videos on their phones.


 As we moved en-mass through the streets of London past Trafalgar Square, towards the houses of parliament, we truly were a great and wonderful spectacle to behold! To hear younger women, some less than half my age leading chants

demanding "equal pay" made me realize how far we have come since the 1970's and how far we still have to go to close the gender pay gap for our daughters and granddaughters.

For just one moment, when we stopped for a short break, I took a minute to frame a lasting image of Processions in my mind - rather than on my phone. I let the reality of what was happening wash over  for posterity. I studied the people behind me, in front of me, and all around me and it made me proud.

There were women of all ages, shapes, colours and sizes. Marching side by side with radical
feminists and LGBT community leaders, and political groups, were ordinary mothers and grandmothers like myself. Sisters walked besides sisters. Best friends strode arm in arm and bought their daughters along. Students, teenage girls, children of both genders, babies in buggies sleeping soundly through it all  - and even few MEN showing their support too!

There were people from every single social, religious and ethnic group  - ALL with a scarf either around their shoulders, tied upon heads or held aloft overhead. The beautiful thing was that regardless of our own lives and backgrounds, we all joined together as one  -for a just few hours - to do a positive, creative, memorable respectful thing in celebration of women's achievements  - and that can only bring hope for a better future and lead to a fairer, more equal society for all the coming generations.

As I marched beside a host of women dressed in full suffragette outfits - one actually had a model of the houses of Parlimament on her head -it was almost like being transported back 100 years! I felt a shiver go down my spine as the ghosts of all those women who fought for the right to vote marched beside us in spirit. It bought it home to me how hard that battle had been and how every single woman in the UK should use her vote to bring about change and never ever take it for granted.

The Suffragette battle cry was DEEDS NOT WORDS - but as a blog writer I think I fulfilled my suffragette challenge with both deeds AND words. At times it was hard, but never the less - I persisted!



When I got home, my feet were aching, I was really tired but I'd had such a totally amazing time, I really didn't care. I spent the rest of the evening watching the excellent coverage of the event on BBC iplayer - and kept thinking to myself, "I was actually there - that will be something to tell people about when I am older and greyer!". Getting more involved with history, sometimes mean that you also end up making it too.

The whole experience has given me the confidence to take the #HiddenHerStories blog to the next level. I am now really excited about working with a female business mentor and self-publishing my first collection of women's biographies later this year.

I am connecting with more and more historians, writers, women's history bloggers & podcasters. I am going to be hosting and collating the first #WomensHistoryHour on Twitter next Sunday (1st June) from 7pm-8pm GMT.

Please feel free to join us online for this brand new online discussion hour.

Thank you Processions for giving me a wonderful opportunity to take part in something really creative that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I am keeping the purple scarf
safe in my box of memories.


You can find other stories, photo's and videos from Processions as well as souvenir merchandise at
www.processions.co.uk/

Here are some other useful links to places and organizations mentioned in the blog:

THE FAWCETT SOCIETY

MUSEUM OF LONDON

SNAPPING THE STILETTO

WOMENS HALL EXHIBITION 

Enjoy my personal video and images of Processions 2018.