College News

Students join in centenary celebration for votes for women

A group of first year students from QE have enjoyed a thought-provoking day at the Centenary Celebration for Votes for Women event held at the town’s Hullabaloo Theatre. The nine Humanities students were nominated by teachers to attend the occasion due to the hard work and commitment demonstrated during their first year of A Level study. The session began with a warm welcome from Andrena Telford, the National President of the National Council for Women, followed by an inspiring talk from Chris Lloyd of the Northern Echo on the local suffrage movement. Vane Women, a local writers’ collective, were also present to deliver poetry based on votes for women, while dressmaker and costume historian, Meridith Towne, explored the wonderful world of fashion from the early twentieth century. Finally, the event concluded with a lively Q&A session with members of the National Council for Young Women and members of the Youth Parliament who hope to encourage more young people to involve themselves in the democratic process and make their voices heard in elections.

Arwen Webb, teacher of Sociology at QE who accompanied the students to the session, explains: ‘The day was brilliantly planned and executed, and all of the talks were inspiring and informative. Our students had a wonderful time and we feel incredibly fortunate that we were able to take part’. Feedback from the students was also extremely positive with many commenting on how much they had learnt about working class suffragists and how the suffrage movement operated in the North of England.