100 years ago Sylvia Pankhurst founded the East London Federation of Suffragettes. The East London Suffragette Festival celebrates this and runs from August 1- August 10, with the biggest event still to occur. This weekend, on Saturday (9th), there’s an all-day long celebration with talks, workshops, lectures and story-telling for kids at Tonybee Hall (close to the Aldgate East Tube station). One of the other highlights of the festival is the East Enders of World War I, an art exhibition of photographs of those who lived and worked in the Tower Hamlets when the war broke out.
If you’re in London, I’d definitely check the website out even if you can’t attend the event this weekend. One of my favourite things on the site are photos of rocks with messages fastened onto them that were thrown through the windows of Buckingham Palace.
I went to this (free) photography exhibition, and really enjoyed it. It’s small, you can see all the photographs in a 15 minute flash or if you want to sit down and read some of the material on offer, an hour max. Go to the front desk at the Tower Hamlets Head Office building anytime between 9-4:30 pm on weekdays until August 29th to see the photographs.
This exhibition ties in to the Suffragette Festival, because although most were opposed to the war, they worked tirelessly to provide support to the families of East London; including opening a nursery where working woman could come drop off their children, and milk depots which were responsible for distributing free milk, eggs and barley to starving children.
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