Visitors to North Tyneside can hear stories of some special local women as part of this year’s Heritage Open Days programme.
Heritage Open Days returns this week and next (September 6 to 9 and September 13 to 16) and North Tyneside Council is once again supporting the national initiative.
The annual event will see an array of exhibitions, shows and guided walks, and a number of venues will throw open their doors to the public, all free of charge.
And this year, there will be a special focus on extraordinary women.
The council has organised a free evening of celebration to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage and learn the stories of four special North Tyneside women; Norah Balls, Dame Annie Maud Burnett, Rt Hon. Margaret Bondfield MP and Ellen Lee.
Award-winning theatre company Blowin’ a Hooley bring their latest and original play, Extraordinary Women, to The Exchange in North Shields on September 15, 7pm to 9pm.
Founded in 2016 by Harriet Ghost, Micky McGregor and Catherine Scott, the company is committed to telling authentic North East stories and making high quality theatre accessible to audiences in traditional and non-traditional theatre venues.
The event will be opened by North Tyneside Elected Mayor, Norma Redfearn CBE, who said: “History is full of many extraordinary women and this special event will celebrate the different achievements of four inspirational women associated with the borough.
“I am looking forward to opening the event and I would encourage people to come along.”
Catherine Scott, writer of Extraordinary Women, added: “It's been a pleasure researching these four brilliant women and I can't wait for the audience to see the play that has been specially commissioned to celebrate them.”
Entertainment will also be provided by the Whitley Women Community Choir who will perform a programme of songs to commemorate the centenary of women gaining the vote.
This event is free to attend, but tickets must be booked at www.ticketsource.co.uk/theexchange or call The Exchange box office on TEL: (0191) 258 4111.
For more information about other Heritage Open Day events in North Tyneside see www.visitnorthtyneside.com.
ENDS
Information about the four women:
Nora Balls – Locally active in the Suffragette Movement and involved in National demonstrations. She travelled south to take part in a raid on the House of Commons in 1910 and was charged with obstruction. The charges against her were dropped when Winston Churchill decided that to continue would make the women martyrs.
Dame Annie Maud Burnett – First Woman in the North of England to sit as a borough councillor when elected to Tynemouth Borough Council in 1910 and first woman to be elected Mayor of Tynemouth.
Margaret Bondfield MP – Started her working life as a shop girl and campaigned for shop workers’ rights. Elected to represent Wallsend in the by-election of 1926. Margaret had served as a Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Labour in the first ever Labour Government in 1924, the first woman to do so. While MP for Wallsend she was appointed to the Cabinet as Minster for Labour (1929-1931): the first women ever to serve in the Cabinet.
Ellen Lee - ARP warden in charge of Wilkinson’s Shelter which was bombed on Saturday 3rd May 1941 with the loss of 107 lives. It was her job to open the shelter when the sirens sounded, keep it tidy and count people coming in and out. The shelter could hold 210 people. On the fatal night 192 people were inside when the bomb hit. Mrs Lee, who was in No 2 Room, called for everyone to keep quiet. With her torch on she shouted: “See me light, I’ll get you out”. Moving through No 1 Room, Mrs Lee found the exit door blocked with fallen rubble and bricks. Using her strength and weight she shoulder charged the wall repeatedly until it gave way enough to make an opening onto the street. She stood at this escape route until 32 people had managed to get out.