Celebrating International Women's Day at HEART

 Accelerating Action

This year is the tenth collaboration between local writers and Headingley LitFest to mark International Women’s Day. It was hosted by Heartlines, the creative writers' group overseen by Liz McPherson. This delightful morning of original poetry, prose, and song, themed around the setbacks and struggle, determination and strength of women worldwide both inspires and gives food for thought. Followed by food of a more visceral nature as we enjoyed home-made cakes and hot drinks among friends past and present. It felt like a companionable meeting of minds.

 

We ranged over time, place, class, and education to showcase women who have made a difference.

 

Kaz told us of Elizabeth Prout, a strong-minded person who became a staunch Roman Catholic when it was unpopular – she bore the storms and sneers, the spit and stones of opprobrium. She realised that education and dignity were gifts girls needed to fulfil their lives. Her Order went on to found St Gemma's Hospice.

 

Eileen spoke of Roberta Joan Anderson, whose songs have accompanied most women of a certain age through many life stages. Her life was cosmopolitan and rich in spirit, not always happy but always fiercely independent and full. Music was her medicine. Eileen referenced the song 'Sweet Bird':

Sweet bird of time and change/You must be laughing/Up on your feathers laughing.

 

Eileen was, of course, speaking of the lyrics of Joni Mitchell. She also gave us Red Rag, a poem that explores the menstrual cycle, from its physical realities to its cultural and emotional significances.

 

Bill based his first poem on work by Maya Angelou and his second on Billie Holliday, both of whom 'squeezed sweetness from the height of pain.' Both of these women used the extraordinary power of words in prose and song to move and inspire us.

 

Howard wrote about Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron who 'had a mind like a machine, expanding numbers into words.'  She developed computer programming language, though sadly, she was 'lost to opium – too much Bryon in you.' He also dedicated a poem to his GP 'whose best concoction is yourself' though Dr Bell had 'no potions to mend my heart.’

 

Marie-Paule reminisced with us about her French heritage and reflected on her mother's experiences in ‘Fingers Red and Wrinkled’. The dishwasher and washing machine of today was then, of course, the woman or women of the family whose swollen fingers spoke of a life of labour in factory or home.

 

A musical interlude with singer/songwriter Maria on guitar (pictured) and Rob on the concertina and melodeon followed. 

 

Maria sang her own original songs about three different women. Marilyn Monroe who was 'so very much aware, just pretending to be dumb'. Let Me Be was a call to arms, to each of us to 'Dream what my life can be', Find your vision.'  And then a modern shanty featuring Skipper Dora, a hero of the seas around Whitby. The first female coble captain who went fishing in wartime with a pistol strapped to her waist.

 

Picture of Dora skippering her coble, The Good Faith

 

[A statue of Dora Walker, by Emma Stothard, stands on Whitby’s West Cliff and forms part of the town’s Walking with Heritage Trail.]

 

Linda then spoke of The Reading Woman who decided she was tired of pretty calendars with illustrations of female passivity. She was going out dancing and would buy her own calendars in future!

 

Barbara's prose account of a serendipitous visit to Coleridge Cottage in Nether Stowey saw her join the annual Women's Walk which is taken by most of the women of the village. It is in honour of Coleridge's best friend, a man called Tom Poole, who used profits from the family tannery to employ many local women, set up a free school for all the children and found the Female Friendly Society which supported women in times of sickness, childbirth, widowhood and old age. A good man.

 

Myrna exhorted us to keep fighting battles for gender equality and to be vigilant. ‘I am a woman, not a witch’ – a woman with a point of view, to be celebrated for wisdom and skills, not shunned or persecuted as many have been in the past (and still are in some cultures). She urged us to put our foot on the pedal and accelerate.

 

Dru recounted some aspects of the life of Suffragette hero, Emily Davison. Her degree in English Literature was not granted, she was arrested nine times, went on hunger strike eight times, was force-fed forty-nine times. She died under the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby but left no note. Dru’s poem is written as the (fictional) note that Emily had dropped at the local station, fluttering on to the track unseen. In it she spoke of her determination that 'we will win the vote for every woman'. And, of course, we were reminded that International Women's Day is marked across the world, even in horrific warzones or under the restrictive regimes that daily blight or obliterate the lives of women and children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison

 

Malcolm read us his poem The Evil Cloud (though at first, I misheard this as The Evil Clown. Yes, him.)  Malcolm told us that, we should build dams to protect the poor and persecuted and that the Evil Cloud produces rain that is harsh, destructive. 'We need the cement of hope to build our wall, not his.'  He also treated us to the lyric of Fred Small sung by folk singer Roy Bailey.

'And the only measure of your words and your deeds/Will be the love you leave behind when you're gone/The love you leave behind when you're gone.'

 

Liz, our compere for the morning, reminded us that class not calibre has been and still can be the main barrier to women's advancement. She emphasized that this issue has become even more pressing as hard-won progress is being rolled back globally. In her first poem, a woman burdened by domestic work "polishes the gaps where her own life might have been," capturing the curbs and restraints that many women suffer. She then read a poem about Patricia Atkinson, the fourth known victim of Peter Sutcliffe, reminding us that violence against women has not diminished since those dark days between 1955 and 1980 when the man they called the Yorkshire Ripper spread fear across West Yorkshire. Furthermore, her poem highlighted attitudes to sex workers—many of whom are women—who still do not receive respect from those in authority.

[Ed: Good then that the film Anora has just received five Oscars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anora.]

 

Jackie told of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, known as the Godmother of Rock 'n' Roll for her trailblazing life and distinctive musical style. Rosetta Tharpe played with all the greats and inspired others, such as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. Shamefully she was not inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame until 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Rosetta_Tharpe

 

As a finale, Jackie recounted an anecdote from her days playing base guitar in the all-girl group, Mother Superior. We were delighted to see the footage of them playing in 1976 as backing group to Cliff Richard (!) singing Sweet Little Sixteen. She showed us the only surviving clip of her band playing. Interesting to see how fashion-forward the group were. And a discombobulated Cliff who had refused to let them play unless they dropped the word ‘Mother’ from their name. View the footage here.

https://jackiebadgersblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/1976-mother-superior.html

 

Once again, thanks are also due to Rachel, Headingley LitFest volunteer for adding her homemade cakes to the display of edible goodies provided.

 

A delightful morning of entertainment that nevertheless packed a punch in its messaging. Women must never give in, or up, but continue to Accelerate Action in order to achieve true gender equality.