Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday 7th July – 7- 9pm
Glasgow
‘Still We Rise’ (Glasgow’s 16 days choir) will be hosting a singing workshop on Tuesday 7th July – 7- 9pm for Gude Cause. The workshop will be to learn the songs for the march in Edinburgh on 10th October. It is a women only workshop, but there will be other workshops for men who want to take part. The workshop is open to any choirs or individuals who want to be involved and it is open to anyone with singing ability or none!
If you are interested in attending please let Caterina O’Connor know by Sunday 5th July. You can email on caterina.ggtc@btconnect.com or telephone/text on 07852962443. Information will then be provided about the location of the workshop and how to download the singing sheets for the event.
Votes for Women
Competition for
Edinburgh schools
The competition is organised by the Equality Committee, Edinburgh Local Association, Educational Institute of Scotland www.edinburgheis.co.uk to commemorate the centenary of the October 1909 Women’s Suffrage Rally in Edinburgh.
The aim of the competition is to encourage pupils to learn more about the campaign for women’s suffrage and think about its contribution to widening democracy and its impact on women’s lives then and now. Entries will show creative and imaginative ways to represent that learning.
Entries may use any medium e.g writing in any form; art work of any sort; IT – web page, film, power point; music.
There will be 3 age categories and individual and group sections in all three. (P6/7 S1-3 S4-6)
The winning individual entrant in each age category will be awarded £100 for the entrant and £100 for the school.
The winning group entry in each category will be awarded £200 for their school.
There is no limit to the number of entries a school may send in, and no upper limit to the size of a group making an entry. Please note, that although care will be taken, Edinburgh EIS cannot accept responsibility for valuable objects or artworks constituting or forming part of entries.Winners will be invited to an awards ceremony to receive their prizes and there will be an exhibition of all entries.
Download EIS Leaflet
Download EIS Entry Form
What’s Happening ….?
The EIS Art Competition
In conjunction with Gude Cause, the EIS are sponsoring an arts competition for school-aged children in Edinburgh.
‘The aim of the competition is to encourage pupils to learn more about the campaign for women’s suffrage and think about its contribution to widening democracy and its impact on women’s lives then and now. Entries will show creative and imaginative ways to represent that learning.
Entries may use any medium e.g writing in any form; art work of any sort; IT – web page, film, power point; music.
There will be 3 age categories and individual and group sections in all three.
The winning individual entrant in each age category will be awarded £100 for the entrant and £100 for the school. The winning group entry in each category will be awarded £200 for their school.’
More information available: www.edinburgheis.co.uk
Visits and Talks
Gude Cause had a stall at the The City Centre Neighbourhood Partnership community event at the Assembly Rooms on Thursday 4th June 09, showing photographs and press report of the original 1909 procession. Several women signed up to receive the Gude Cause ebulletin.
In Glasgow
Glasgow Group had a really productive meeting with lots great ideas and suggestions for getting involved in Gude Cause. It is hoped that this will be the first of many meetings with a provisional date for the next meeting of Thursday 9th July, 6pm, Unison Offices, Albion Street. We will post the date on the Gude Cause website when it is confirmed. If you would like information about the Glasgow Group please email Valerie Wright V.Wright@dundee.ac.uk or check for updates on the Glasgow page of the Gude Cause Website.
In Edinburgh
Lesley Orr gave a talk about Gude Cause for the Young at Heart group on Friday 5 June at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.
Helen Kay spoke about Gude Cause to the Jubilee Group on Monday 8 June at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. The talk inspired lots of discussion about the tensions, past and present, between women’s role in the family and in the workplace.
Lothian Women’s Forum & Protest in Harmony
Songs of the Edinburgh Procession Workshop
Thursday 11 June 2009, 7.00pm-9.00pm
Room 1, Riddle’s Court, 322 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
With Jane Lewis and Penny Stone
Song leaders with Protest in Harmony
In support of Gude Cause, the WEA Lothian Women’s Forum and Protest in Harmony are holding a song workshop for people to learn the Gude Cause Procession Songs. These 8 songs will be sung by people taking part in the re-enactment of the Procession on 10th October, and
those turning out to cheer them on. To book a place fill in the registration form on the Gude Cause events page.
The radical singing group Protest in Harmony (www.protestinharmony.org.uk) has been researching songs of suffrage and writing new lyrics and songs celebrating women’s activism.
The Procession
Registration forms are just about ready for release and will be sent out by email to those on our mailing list and available to download from our website. It is important that all groups register in advance and we would appreciate registration from individuals so that we can gauge attendance and organise adequate stewarding.
Festival of Politics
Friday 21 August, at 5.30pm in Committee Room 1
Chaired by Sarah Boyack with panel including Elspeth King and Joyce McMillan and other prominent feminists to be announced.
Gude Cause was launched to give a history lesson on the street, and to inspire renewed action on gender equality issues. Female representation has fallen in the Scottish Parliament since the first elections in 1999. Despite this, devolution can and is improving the position of women in Scotland, leading to a more pragmatic, less confrontational style of politics, as favoured by Chrystal Macmillan and early suffragist founders of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
What Women Want
WEA play about events leading up to and immediately following the procession, had its first airing at Riddles Court, where the first public reading was warmly received by a full house. Feedback forms were provided and will be used to fine tune the work in time for the Festival. There is still opportunity to get involved is costume making at Riddles Court. Email Liz Hare for details ( lizhare@blueyonder.co.uk ).
Banner-making
Two new banners were designed at the Bannermaking workshop run by Iyaah Warren on Saturday 30th May The Gude Cause banner takes its inspiration from the original Gude Cause
banner from the 1909 march and the second banner takes ‘THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES’ as its main message. Thanks to £1,000 funding awarded by Community Chest fund Gude Cause are able to support further bannermaking workshops across Scotland. Check the Gude Cause website for details and photos (www.gudecause.org.uk).
More Bannermaking Workshops …
Gude Cause will be holding monthly themed Banner making workshops in the lead up to the procession at McDonald Road Library. The next one takes place from 1-3 pm on Sunday 14th
June. The theme will be to remake or create a modernisation of the original Edinburgh Banner (the one that’s lost). We have images of it and we can stick to the original design or give it a contemporary twist.
July’s theme has yet to be decided. A spray painting workshop for girls and young women will be held in August and individual banners/pennants workshop planned for September.
Ways of Seeing
National Museums Scotland are working with Ways of Seeing, to research the history of the struggle for voting rights for women. Ways of Seeing are a group of mature female adult learners from Pilton and Granton in Edinburgh, supported by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Children & Family Department. They hope to use the Museum’s collections to explore women’s identity in society and their role in the family. The project will be documented through audio, photography and film recordings with a final, short film shown at the National Museum of Scotland and North Edinburgh Arts Centre in October 2009.
Quilting Exhibition
Sarah Boyack MSP has very kindly agreed to host an exhibition of the quilts created to commemorate the event. Better still she has even offered to add her own square. We now have almost fifty squares with more arriving daily. There is still time to make sure that your design is part of the quilt. Visit our website for full instructions.
Music
To see words and hear parts for songs to be sung on the procession see forthcoming link on Gude Cause website or go directly to www.protestinharmony.org.uk The songs will be on the website very soon!
Get in touch …
Tell us about your events and activities and we will highlight them in our ebulletin and on our website. For further information on any of the above, or to make a donation or discuss your ideas email gudecause@peaceandjustice.org.uk or call 0131 229 0993 or visit our website www.gudecause.co.uk
GLASGOW GROUP
The next meeting of the Glasgow Group will be held on Thursday 6 August, 5pm, in the Unison offices, 18 Albion Street. For further info please contact Valerie Wright V.Wright@dundee.ac.uk
Thursday 9th July
6pm Unison, 18 Albion Street
Following on from our successful meeting on 6th June we will be gathering again on the 9th to discuss&organise future events for the Glasgow Group as well as ideas about how we can contribute to the October Procession.
Everyone is very welcome, please invite friends, colleagues etc. For further info or to be added to our group mailing list please contact Valerie, V.Wright@dundee.ac.uk
