8. Not your average bunting

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

This fantastic bunting was created by children at Gomersal Primary School. It was on show at Batley Older People’s Centre on Saturday 24th March 2018 as part of a special event to celebrate International Women’s Day and Vote 100.

The children used images from the past to inspire their creativity and worked hard to produce beautiful pieces of art. They were inspired by old photographs and propaganda posters. While creating the bunting, they learnt some facts about women’s rights in the early 1900s and found out about suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison.

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett says this is “not your average child made bunting” – and you can see why…

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

The event at Batley Older People’s Centre was partly funded by a small grant from the Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme.

Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the children’s creativity, why not try making your own Vote 100 bunting for a community event? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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7. Debating and creating in the classroom

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Gomersal Primary School recently borrowed the Parliamentary Loan Box from the Education service in Parliament. They have loved using this to create their own House of Commons in their art room. Over 300 children have had the opportunity to recreate debates in this classroom. Year 4 children used the resources to debate about women’s right to vote. The children thought very carefully and discussed the issues carefully.

The school’s younger children have also learnt about the lives of Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison in a lesson linked to their history topic of ‘Famous people who have changed the world’. They worked in the art room to create some beautiful mono prints.

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett has recently trained to be a UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador and will be doing lots more to promote democracy within the school.

You can find out more on the Gomersal Primary School website:

UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador – Gomersal Primary School

 

Here’s where to find UK Parliament resources for schools:

Teacher resources and lesson plans – Parliament Education service

Order a Parliament Loan Box

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the creativity of the Gomersal Primary School community, why not try something similar in your school? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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5. Democracy in the Making – suffragette rosettes

In 1908, the  Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) chose a colour scheme to unify participants in an enormous demonstration in London’s Hyde Park. The three colours they chose became the visual identity for the women’s suffrage movement that we still recognise today – purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope.

As part of the Democracy in the Making event, artist Amy Hirst showed people how to make their own suffragette rosettes, using a choice of papers and ribbons in purple, white and green.

Democracy in the Making – twitter moment

 

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by Amy’s creativity, why not have a go at making your own rosettes, badges, ribbons or sashes? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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2. Reasons to Vote

This year artist Amy Hirst is asking people what their reasons are for voting.

Inspired by a 105 year old pamphlet from the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies called “Some Reasons Why Working Women Want the Vote”, Amy ran a market stall at Huddersfield Open Market on Thursday 15th February 2018. She asked shoppers why they think it’s important to vote. Their reasons were really interesting and you can have a look at some of them here:

Amy hopes to repeat this exercise later in the year – so look out for more reasons to vote, and please share your own. You can see more of Amy’s activities in this twitter moment:

Democracy in the Making – twitter moment

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by Amy’s little deed for democracy, why not show people the pamphlet, spend some time talking about reasons for voting and collect some more reasons? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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1. The Democracy of Presence

Rose Condo, Friday 16th February 2018. Photo by Anthony McKeown.

At the Notwestminster 2018 PechaKucha Night, performance poet Rose Condo gave an inspiring talk about understanding her place in the world and how we all benefit from the presence of women.

A PechaKucha is a fast-paced event full of exciting speakers and topics. Each speaker talks for 6 minutes 40 seconds on a theme of their choosing, following a “20 slides for 20 seconds” format. In this special democracy-themed PechaKucha hosted by The Media Centre in Huddersfield, Rose showed just how much insight and experience you can pack into those few minutes.

Rose talked about how we need to pay attention to where women are absent, and what all people might miss by not seeing how women look at the world. She talked about what we all gain when women engage in communities, and how we can be inspired by our rich history of democratic engagement.

Rose wanted to acknowledge that she has the right to be present, to be engaged, to be here, because of the work of so many women before her.

Our thanks to Rose, and to Brent Woods at The Media Centre who recorded Rose’s ‘Democracy of Presence’ talk so that you can listen in full:

Listen to Rose’s talk

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100 little deeds for local democracy

To celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by Rose’s talk, have a think about whether you could share your own experiences at a local community event or meeting. We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy

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