August E-bulletin
GUDE NEWS: OVER 1,500 HAVE ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR THE
PROCESSION
Over 1,500 individuals and groups have confirmed their participation in the Gude Cause procession. Groups from across Scotland include trade unions, youth groups, women’s and children’s groups and groups set up specifically for Gude Cause. Many have indicated they will be dressing up and bringing their own banners.
Have you booked? Please book as soon as possible as it helps us with organising stewarding and safety.
Thank you to those who included a donation with their booking, we really appreciate your much needed support.
Scottish Parliament supports Gude Cause:
Shirley-Anne Somerville lodged a parliamentary member’s motion lodged on 30th July.
S3M-04644# Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (Scottish National Party):
Votes for Women
Women: The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Edinburgh
Edinburgh from 31 July 2009 to 9 January 2010; notes that the exhibition uses photos and artefacts to chart the long struggle to win the vote, which was eventually granted to all women in 1928; further notes that at the height of the campaign in October 1909 a grand pageant was held in Edinburgh and to honour its 100 year anniversary and history of women’s activism a re-enactment march will take place on 10 October 2009; encourages all women to join in the parade in honour of all suffragettes who fought hard for all sisters to have a free vote; congratulates the Gude Cause, based at the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre, for organising the march and complementary events, and further notes that more information can be found at www.gudecause.org.uk.
Supported by: Anne McLaughlin, Rob Gibson, Marlyn Glen, Jackie Baillie, Jim Tolson, Bill Kidd, Dr Christopher Harvie, Sandra White, Maureen Watt, Jamie Hepburn, Bob Doris, Ken Macintosh, Dr Alasdair Allan, Mike Pringle, Aileen Campbell, Michael Matheson, Elaine Smith, Rt Hon Jack McConnell, Angela Constance, Gil Paterson, Christina McKelvie
Gude Cause Toolkit now available to order free of charge
Thanks to financial support from the Scottish Community Foundation’s Schiehallion Fund, Gude Cause toolkit is now available. The toolkit is designed to help groups to research, plan and carry out activities relevant to their own community and interests in the run up to October’s commemorative procession in Edinburgh.
Gude Cause communities throughout Scotland so they have lasting benefit for those involved. The toolkit is full of useful information and instructions, including more than twenty pages of photocopiable sheets on how to find out about suffrage activities in you locality, how to research on-line the activities of Scottish suffragettes and suffragists, how to make banners of local significance and rosettes to wear on the procession, information about the 1909 procession and how to take part in the 2009 procession.
For more information and to order your toolkit please contact: gudecause@peaceandjustice.org.uk
Banner Making Workshops
Gude Cause have organised Banner Making Workshops in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow led by Marylou Anderson
Edinburgh, Sat 26th Sept,The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
Drop in session from 12-5 as part of the Ladyfest Edinburgh weekend programme
Dundee International Women’s Centre
Thursday 20 th August 5.30pm – 8pm
Unit 9, Manhattan Business Park, Dundonald Street
Dundee, DD3 7PY
01382 462 058
Date for your diary – Gude Cause Song Book Launch: Edinburgh
18th September 7.00 – 9.00 pm at Edinburgh Central Reference Library. The songbook features all the songs that will be sung during the procession. The songbook will be available for sale at the launch and will also be for sale at the procession on Oct 10th.
Dundee News
A Gude Cause March will be held first in Dundee 9.30am then in Edinburgh 1pm on Saturday 10 th October 2009. You are invited to come to one or both. Return bus available from Dundee through DVA. March into City Square, Dundee, the proposed route will incorporate short sections of the Women’s Trail. Assemble at 9.15am and leave for the City Square at 9.30am. Speakers, drumming and singing in city square. Marilyn Glen MSP confirmed as a speaker. Free bus leaving Dundee 10.30am for Edinburgh Contact Christine Lowden 01382 305740 or christinelowden@number10.org for further information.
Glasgow News
Unison offices
Next Glasgow organising meeting date Thursday 3 rd September in Unison Offices 18 Albion Street, at 5.00 pm all welcome. Anyone in Glasgow (especially groups) who would like to organise joint travel arrangements to the Procession please contact Alison Kelly from the Unison Group (alison.j.kelly@hotmail.co.uk)
GUDE CAUSE HITS THE FRINGE!
What Women Want
Diverse Attractions, Riddles Court, 322 Lawnmarket 17
Tickets £9.00 conc. £7.00 from Fringe Box Office
Citadel Arts Group and WEA.
The suffragettes changed Scotland. From Princes Street to the trenches, they fought for the vote. Fire-raisers, sweethearts, doctors, daughters and housemaids seek the vote in the humorous, musical, moving tribute to years of struggle for equality.
Votes for Women: The Women’s Suffrage movement in Edinburgh
Exhibition at Museum of Edinburgh, 142 Canongate, Edinburgh, tel: 0131 529 4143, 31July 2009 -January 2010, Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 2 -5 during the International Festival, Admission Free (unfortunately there is no wheelchair access)
One hundred years ago, no women and not every man had the right to vote for a Member of Parliament. Using images, original artefacts and eye-witness accounts,
this exhibition tells the story of the struggle to win the vote for women, from the mid-19 century to 1928, when the right to vote was finally achieved. The exhibition is a contribution to the Gude Cause, a programme of events leading up to a re-enactment of the Edinburgh Procession and Women’s Demonstration of the 9 October 1909.
You will find out about Bessie Watson, who was nine years old when she played the bagpipes in the 1909 Procession, and see the scarf of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) she wore on that day. You will meet Nannie Brown who walked 400 miles from Edinburgh to London, with other members of the Women’s Freedom League (WFL), to collect signatures for a petition to the Prime Minister. You will learn about the women who campaigned, went on hunger strike endured forcible feeding for the ‘gude cause’..Free talks and Workshops at the Museum of Edinburgh. To book your place call Margaret Findlay on 0131 529 3963.
Saturday 5 September, 10.30 am-12.30 pm repeated again 1.30 pm-3.30 pm
Make a suffragette sash to wear at the Procession on 10 October 2009. With Tessa Asquith-Lamb. Suitable for older children and adults
The suffragettes wore sashes to get their message across, and decorated them in the suffragette colours of green, white and violet. Come along and make your own colourful sash, using a variety of beautiful fabrics and ribbons, and spell out your own message to wear with pride.
Tuesday 1 September 2 pm
Illustrated talk with Tiana Sidey, researcher ‘Scottish Suffragists, a brief look at the background to the women’s suffrage movement in Scotland, illustrated through the lives of some Edinburgh women’.
Saturday 24 October
Story telling workshop with Beth Cross, Storyteller. All ages and families
10.30 am-12.30 pm repeated again 1.30 pm-3.30 pm. ‘Afternoon Tea with Bessie Watson’
The story of how women’s right to vote was won features the narratives of many different women, men…and children! Come and learn about the lives, friendships
and inspiration of those who changed the face of British citizenship. At the end, you’ll have a chance to put lace, ribbon and tea doilies to your own ingenious use, drawing on the inspiration of the museum’s exhibition.
Monday 26 October
Story Telling Workshop ‘Paths to Persuasion’ with Beth Cross
10.30 am-12.30 pm and repeated again 1.30 pm-3.30 pm. All ages and families
During the campaign for women’s right to vote, women and men tried many different ways to make their point. Peaceful, forceful or violent, hear the stories of the paths they chose and decide for yourself the best way to have your say. Using the inspiration of the exhibition, this session will explore the dedicated and imaginative efforts of those working for women’s right to vote. At the end of the workshop you will have the chance to make your own point – and wear it home.
Thursday 12 November 2 pm
Illustrated talk -’Women and the struggle for equality’. Helen Kay will focus her talk on the suffragist and campaigner for peace, Chrystal Macmillan and examine the aims and activities of the Gude Cause. Helen Kay is a member of Gude Cause and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Thursday 19 November 2 pm
Illustrated talk – ‘For God and Home and Every Land’: Scottish-American connections in the suffrage and temperance movements c1870-1914 with Dr Megan Smitley, researcher.
The Scottish suffrage movement mobilised the participation of a wide range of women’s organisations. In this talk, the significance of temperance women’s suffragism is highlighted through an exploration of connections with North American feminism. Megan will be signing copies of her newly published book – The feminine public sphere: middle-class women and civic life in Scotland, c1870-1914.
Thursday 3 December
‘Wearing the Colours – Jewellery and the women’s suffrage movement’. 2 pm illustrated talk Dr. Elizabeth Goring Principal Curator at the National Museums Scotland until 2008.
Two related talks will be at Lauriston Castle and are part of the Lauriston Lectures 2009. There is an £8 charge which includes a tour of the castle and refreshments. To book your place call Margaret Findlay on 0131 529 3963.
Tuesday 6 October 10.30 am
A Gude Cause Maks a Strong Arm
An illustrated talk that will recall the 1909 procession and stories of some eminent suffrage campaigners in Edinburgh.
Lesley Orr, Women’s History Scotland, Wednesday 6 October 10.30 am
Ladies in Debate – how a Victorian Book Group became a nursery for Women’s Rights Activists.
Sian Reynolds former professor of Stirling University is an independent curator, writer and lecturer and was a
Film at the Filmhouse
4 films telling the stories of women’s activism:
4th October at 1.00 pm at the Filmhouse
Red Skirts on Clydeside
Ethel Moorhead
The work they say is mine
A special screening for Gude Cause of films telling the stories of women’s activism. There will be a brief introduction to the programme and a discussion session at the end
RED SKIRTS ON CLYDESIDE
A documentary which looks at the process of rediscovering women’s history using the 1915 Glasgow rent strike as a focal point. The rent strike, which took place during the First World War, was a protest against Glasgow landlords who were exploiting the war situation. The women of the tenements and the Glasgow Women’s Housing Association, including Jean Ferguson, organised a vigorous protest which forced the Government to take action. The film celebrates this victory and presents for discussion some of the problems in attempting to rediscover women’s past achievements.
Mary Barbour and Helen Crawford,
Dir: Jenny Woodley, Christine Bellamy. Prod: Sheffield Film Co-op. 1984.
ETHEL MOORHEAD
Ethel Moorhead was the first suffragette to be force-fed in a Scottish prison. She was imprisoned in Calton Jail, Edinburgh, for attempted fire-raising. She was hurriedly released, after developing double pneumonia as a result of being forced to eat. Film-maker Mary Gordon reveals her struggles. She symbolically smashed the glass case to the Wallace Sword in 1912 in the first militant action by any Scottish suffragette. Inspired by the uncompromising example of Scottish freedom-fighter, William Wallace, she wanted to let other women know that if they wanted the vote then they’d have to fight for it.
Dir Mary Gordon. 1995.
THE WORK THEY SAY IS MINE
This film celebrates women’s central role in the past and present of Shetland life. Interviews, dramatisation, fantasy, music and songs written and performed by local women are textured and woven together to form a montage of women’s lives as intricate and colourful as the knitting for which the islands are famous. Crofting, fishing and knitting are all part of their lives’ rich tapestry. The film presents and represents the enormous contributions of women to the work, heritage, culture and spirit of the islands.
Dir. Rosie Gibson
Edinburgh: Chrystal and the General
8 th & 9th October at 7.00 pm
At the Scottish Storytelling Centre. A piece of interactive story telling about Flora Drummond and Chrystal Macmillan. Performed by Suzanne Dance and Clunie Mackenzie; scripted by them with Jo Clifford. In memory of Sue Innes.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT GUDE CAUSE
gudecause@peaceandjustice.org.uk
