Fiona Millar
Suffragette Ethel Moorhead made a special appearance in Edinburgh at the weekend thanks to a creative group of women from across the Stirling area.
A striking banner celebrating the activist and what she stood for was on display as thousands of people marched through the capital city on Sunday during the Processions event.
The rally was organised to mark 100 years since some women got the vote through the Representation of the People’s Act.
And among the artwork on display during the event was a colourful piece crafted by a group of six women who got together at the Macrobert each Tuesday in May.
Three of them – Fiona Millar, Moira MacKay and Emily Malcolm – were in Edinburgh for the march.
Fiona, who is from Dunblane, spoke to the Observer about the positive way in which their creation was received.
She said: “The whole event was really powerful and I believe there were around 12,000 to 15,000 women there. As we walked past The Mound it really hit us what we were part of.
“There were people on either side of the street taking pictures of Ethel and others asking who she was. I think we were all really proud of the banner.”
Fiona explained that there were some challenges in completing the two mile walk in difficult conditions while carrying the larger-than-life artwork.
She added: “We shared it out so we took turns in carrying it.
“We needed two at a time but we really had to work as a team as we had to dodge lamp posts and things like that.
“I guess that embodied the principles of what we were there for – working together as women.”
The 30-year-old, who works at the University of Stirling, said that their banner did suffer some slight damage due to strong winds but should be repaired and back in top shape before going off on a tour of venues around the country.
Ethel Moorhead achieved heroine status when she smashed
A number of other groups from the Stirling area also took part in the rally including representatives from 3rd Stirling Rainbows, 10th Stirling Guides, Scottish Lone Guides and Rangers and 88th (Braehead) Beavers.
Everyone involved donned green, white or violet scarves.
The colours were the official colours of the suffrage movement – with green for hope, white for purity and violet for dignity, giving an acronym of Give Women Votes.
Elizabeth Hambly, from Scottish Lone Guides, said: “This is something we have been learning about at school and at guides and it’s a really good thing to remember the women who campaigned for us all because without it we wouldn’t have the ability to vote today.”