Last Saturday, myself and two of the other
PBG bloggers (FCC and FCA, both of whom
I met in August) had a very exciting day. We joined The Emily Tree for their suffragette march and picnic! It was a really really great experience,
as blogged about by the three of us for PBG. However, I wanted to blog about it a bit more personally here...
The day began with a stupidly early start- I had to catch the coach at 7am!! I spent most of the journey reading (The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, in case you're interested) and listening to music though, so it wasn't too bad. I got progressively more excited over the course of the journey- by the time I got to London I felt quite near bursting!!
Once I got off the coach I headed to the Tube, to sort out my travel stuff and to meet FCA!
Obligatory Victoria Station pic
After many many hugs with the fabulous FCA, we headed off to find somewhere to sit and work on our speeches for the picnic. On the way, we passed Buckingham Palace, where my tourist instincts took over slightly...
We eventually settled in Hyde Park, because why not! We got our speeches almost complete and practised them to each other until it was time to head to the march!
(We also took a reunion selfie!!)
We got to the Tube pretty quickly, and worked out where we needed to be etc. However, when we got off, disaster struck as we got really
really lost. We tried ringing The Emily Tree and FCC, but neither of them could help us out, so in the end we had to give up on our plans of joining the march :( Instead we went straight to the picnic area, and sat down on a bench for a while. After a while, Lucy (from the
No More Page Three campaign) arrived, as did Ciara from The Emily Tree.
We helped to set up the picnic area- one of the trees was covered in the suffragette colours, and had various feminist-y statements (eg, role models) tied to it. It looked amazing, and I loved reading all the things people had written!!
FCA and the Emily Tree!!
It wasn't too long before the marchers turned up- it was so good to see them walking across the park with their banners etc.; FCA and I were gutted that we hadn't been able to join them. Still, I got a picture with one of the signs (the lyrics to a feminist song, sung to the tune of Frere Jacque I think) so that was cool! The arrival of the marchers also meant the arrival of FCC- huge hugs all round!!
Once we were all settled, we had lunch. FCA and I also took pride in making sashes- everyone else had made them pre-march, but FCC brought us spare sashes and pens so we could make ours and not feel left out!!
SO MANY YOUNG FEMINISTS HAVING LUNCH TOGETHER!!
After lunch, the speeches began. There were a huge variety of different speakers. I enjoyed and took a lot away from every single one; it was a really powerful thing, to sit there and listen to so many inspiring people! I was especially impressed by the speech made by one of the girls from the march, who got up on the spot and spoke without any preparation!
FCA and I also made our own speeches- hers was a very moving piece of self-love, whilst mine focused on how easy it is to feel dismissed as a feminist, leading into feminist pride/reasons to keep fighting. I absolutely loved being able to do a speech, and it's something I'm hoping to do again somehow!
FCA being awesome sauce
Lucy speaking about NMP3
Me doing the talking thing
A speech by the relative of the one and only Emily Davison
Comparing leg hair after it got mentioned in a speech
After, we all had a chance to write up our own things about feminism, and to attach them to the Emily Tree. I went for this one- it related to my speech, but, more than that, it will always be my definition of feminism.
However, just tying our bits of writing up wasn't enough for the three PBG bloggers (or the 'Baby Feminists', as we have lovingly been renamed by Ciara and Alice from The Emily Tree). We decided to get
in the Emily Tree itself- and spent about half an hour there, as it happened.
Baby Feminists!
PBG and NMP3 unite!
PBG and The Emily Tree!
Another really important part of the day was the time we had at lunch and after the picnic, when we got to chat to all the amazing people there. I was super excited to get to meet Frances, who started the
50:50 Parliament campaign (
@5050Parliament) as that's something I've been really promoting recently. FCA, FCC and I also recorded a vox pop (I think that's the correct term?!) for Kate, who runs '#EmilyMatters' (
@EmilyMatters) and has written a show about Emily Davison and the suffragettes, called
To Freedom's Cause. There was also lots of chatting to the fabulous Ciara and Alice, who run The Emily Tree, and to Lucy. Getting to speak to so many inspiring people was empowering beyond words, and was one of my personal highlights from the day. It all just made me feel even less alone in what I believe in and fight for!!
Pic of (nearly all!) the amazing speakers
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and it was eventually time for the Baby Feminist to leave ('Baby Feminists out!', as we said). We meandered back to find a station, then very sadly parted ways :(
Final Baby Feminist selfie
The day ended with the coach trip back to Bristol and a much needed sleep... Missing it all so much already now though!! Huge huge huge thanks to Ciara and Alice from the super amazing The Emily Tree (who can be found on
Facebook and
Twitter) and a big shout out to every single amazing person there on the day!! Please please check out some of the links in this post- each and every link posted will take you to some amazing campaign or group or whatever that really deserves and needs your support!!
