I saw Elizabeth Chapman, a librarian at the LSE, speak at the 2013 Hay festival on the Women’s Library and was inspired to act as a result. I wanted to celebrate Emily W-d’s postbox campaign connection with my city of Newport, with some needlecraft to raise public awareness of feminism in the suburbs!
I had just been reading about WSPU member Margaret Haig Mackworth’s activities in a book on Welsh feminism, and found out that she was from my home Newport, blew up my local post box, and later campaigned to take her seat in the Lords, as Lady Rhondda. She died weeks before the law that would allow her to do so was passed. At Hay I discovered the WSPU Postbox campaign was the brainchild of Wilding-Davison. And so a green, white & purple bunting-related idea was born.
I tweeted my MP Paul Flynn about my intention and I put my bunting up early Sunday morning-see attached photo. Other Local politicians got involved and an ‘event’ was created, my bunting and their flowers & speeches (unfortunately I couldn’t hang around for the speeches at 11am as was on first aid training for Brownies!). However it made the BBC news!
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22740340
and my dad managed to get interviewed on itv:
http://www.itv.com/news/wales/story/2013-06-02/newport-suffragette-remembered
