Wednesday, 27 June 2012 12:13

Written by Jacqueline Mulhallen

King's Lynn and District Trade Council's Women For Change series proves popular, reports Jacqueline Mulhallen

King’s Lynn and District Trades Council began an unusual but popular initiative when we launched a series of talks entitled Women For Change.  These take place in a beautiful medieval warehouse on the waterfront of King’s Lynn on a Saturday morning, so that people can pop in while they are shopping.  Everyone is welcome - men and children too.

The talks are free and run for about half an hour, followed by plenty of time for the audience to express their own views, mingle, chat and talk about issues affecting them. All the talks have been very enthusiastically received by audiences of around 30 local people.

The series kicked off on 10 March - to celebrate International Women’s Day - with ‘Sylvia Pankhurst, the suffragette you don’t hear about’ with Kate Connelly.  Kate is writing a book about Sylvia which will be published by Pluto next year.

Kate talked about her research into Sylvia’s early involvement with women in the East End, their huge meetings and demonstrations singing the Red Flag and holding red banners. This aspect of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) has been ignored.

The April speaker was Lindsey German, national convenor of Stop the War, talking about the situation of women today. In May Megan Dobney, of SERTUC, discussed women’s equality in the trade unions.

The June talk, on Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the organisation of the IWW, was given by Jacqueline Mulhallen. On 14 July (Bastille Day) Bernie Barclay, a local French teacher, will be talking about Olympe de Gouges and the French Revolution.

We wanted to get a speaker for Black History Month in October. When the trades council secretary approached her union, Unison, they were so impressed with the initiative that they offered to pay for the talk and provide a speaker: Bev Miller. In November Cristel Amiss, from Crossroads Women’s Centre in Camden, is coming to speak. We hope to continue these talks, with the co-operation of a number of trade unions.

William Alderson’s eye-catching leaflet is so popular that people are framing them. If you can’t already identify most of the women in the picture, then you should definitely come to the talks – or arrange similar events in your area.