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Category Archives: Dreadnought

0ne Hundred and Ten Years On

A hundred and ten years ago, seven women from Cornwall started their walk to Hyde Park in support of getting the vote for women. Ten years ago, some of us walked a little of the way to support their memory and today, another group, again led by Claire Ingleheart and Dreadnaught Southwest, walked from Lands End to St Just to commemorate the day.
In the Plen an Gwarry in St Just the walkers met with another hundred people who had come along to sing to honour those women and the thousands that joined them in a rally in Hyde Park. We all sang Oxygen and it was extremely moving as the seven names of those women were remembered. I was so involved I didn’t get many photos but here is a taster and one of me taken by a friend as we were leaving after the most uplifting community event.

Posy made by one of my choir friends

The walkers arrive

On a street in St Just

I’ve had the most wonderful afternoon, here wearing my facsimile scarf.

Here is a recording of the Ingleheart Singers singing the wonderful rousing song, Oxygen, in Truro Cathedral some time ago. I had just had my hip replaced and was in the audience able to record though I couldn’t sing on that occasion.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 19, 2023 in community, Cornwall, Dreadnought, friendship, photography, Postaday 2023, singing, Suffragettes, Uncategorized

Tags: Suffragette history, Suffragist walk

Songs of Rebellion and Glass Work

15 Jun

Yesterday my choirs performed in Redruth at Kresen Kernow, a beautiful building that used to be the old brewery and is now a library of all Cornish archives. We were there to celebrate .an exhibition of stories about women in the South West and to sing our songs of rebellion and those about Cornish women. It was brilliant! The audience loved us and gave us a standing ovation!

This afternoon I have been helping our lovely artist neighbour with a project she and her brother are making for a festival in Glasgow, huge mirror ball faces and I’ve been helping to cut the glass and fill in some repairs on the old heads.

Anniversary, Garden and Singing

19 Jun

Today marks the anniversary of the Great 1913 Women’s Pilgrimage starting in the South West where women walked from Land’s End to Hyde Park demanding their right to vote and to be acknowledged as citizens.

Dreadnought began with this inspirational story of courage and rage, and we marked the centenary of the pilgrimage by touring a new play Oxygen in 2013 to the places the women had stopped and rallied one hundred years earlier. My choir leader, Claire Ingleheart wrote the music for the play, “Oxygen” and many of the choir turned up to sing at Land’s End prior to walking the first few miles of the walk together.

My Suffragette garden has the right colours at the right moment! My regular readers will know that my Great Granny, Mary Wiseman, was a Suffragette, was force fed in Holloway Prison and received the portcullis brooch from Mrs Pankhurst for her struggles. I am very proud of her, hence my garden and my tattoo.

Here’s a recording of The Ingleheart Singers singing Oxygen in Truro Cathedral. I’m not amongst them as I was recovering from a replacement hip op but I was able to record it for you.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 19, 2020 in community, Cornwall, Dreadnought, garden, music, nature, Photography, Postaday2020, Suffragettes, Uncategorized

Tags: 'Oxygen' by Claire Ingleheart and Natalie McGrath, Dreadnought South West, Great 1913 Women's Pilgrimage, Suffragette Garden

Colours, Bee and The Cause

08 Jun

Inspired by Ali of The Mindful Gardener, I collected today’s dead-headings together and she is right, they do make a lovely palette.

Dead-headings

The bees are busy – thankfully.

Busy bee

Tonight we are going to see The Cause by Dreadnought Southwest, an imaginary meeting between two redoubtable women, Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst. You can read more about the play here.

The Cause by Dreadnought South West

Fabulous play! If you get the chance to see it, do go – it is mesmerising and moving.

Singing, Periwinkle and Raindrops

03 Mar

1 I had my daily dose of singing today at a wonderful workshop run by my lovely choir leader, Claire Ingleheart. The songs were about the Suffragettes and were both rousing and moving. The work shop is linked with a scratch performance tonight of a new play-in-progress by Natalie McGrath who wrote the wonderful Oxygen which you can read about here.

Singing daily

2 We are having days of sunshine and showers, heavy ones with hailstones but the flowers are still beginning to bloom.

Periwinkle

2 The new leaves on the Honeysuckle caught the raindrops perfectly.

Raindrops on new honeysuckle leaves

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 3, 2015 in Beauty, Dreadnought, nature, photography, Postaday 2015, singing, Suffragettes

Tags: Claire Ingleheart, Natalie McGrath

Courgette Flowers, Old Family Recipe and Oxygen, the Song

16 Jul

1 The courgettes are really taking off. I’m so looking forward to being able to harvest some.

Courgette flowers

2 Our eldest daughter is with us for a week as she walks some of the coastal path with a friend. She asked if I had any Picnic Pie in the freezer – a staple of walks and picnics for our family for as long as I can remember. This afternoon, I dug out my Granny’s Recipe book, a note book given to her in 1903 and found the recipe for Picnic Pie from 1946 and made one ready for tomorrow’s walk.

Original recipe from 1946

Picnic Pie

3 While we were in London, Claire’s three choirs performed in Carn Marth Quarry near Redruth. Here, you can hear one of the songs, music by Claire Ingleheart and lyrics by Natalie McGrath, written for the play, Oxygen, about the Suffragist March from Lands End to London.. It was filmed by Tina Wheeler, with apologies for the noisy crowd, unruly children, dogs hitting tripod, and the wind. The tour of the play is coming to an end and it has had brilliant reviews.
Rather belatedly, I want to thank El Guapo for his delightful post when I asked him for help to put the word out about the play for me.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 16, 2013 in Beauty, Carn Marth, Dreadnought, photography, Postaday2013, singing, Suffragettes

Tags: Claire Ingleheart, El Guapo, Oxygen by Natalie McGrath, Suffragists

Red Roses in Bodmin, Herbs and Purple Poppy

25 Jun

1 One hundred years ago today, the Suffragists on the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage of 1913 from Land’s End to London, stopped in Bodmin where the Mayor greeted them with a red rose each in a gesture of solidarity. Today, on the tour of the play, Oxygen by Natalie McGrath, along the route, the troupe stopped in Bodmin and were presented with red roses by the Mayor in remembrance of June 25th 1913. We were there! It was brilliant to hear some of the speeches again and to join the cast in the singing of the song that we learned yesterday.

The Mayor, the Cast and the Roses

Singing Oxygen, the song we learned last night

2 I love being able to cut fresh herbs for our salad dressing – two kinds of mint, chives and garlic chives, sage and three kinds of thyme. Delicious.

Herbs chopped for a salad dressing

3 The purple Poppies and the white Cistus have both opened today in my purple, white and green Suffragette garden. What excellent timing!

Purple poppy in my Suffragette garden

White Cistus

14 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 25, 2013 in awards, Dreadnought, flowers, Food, growing, music, nature, photography, Postaday2013, singing, Suffragettes, theatre

Tags: Great Suffrage Pilgrimage of 1913., Mayor of Bodmin, Oxygen by Natalie McGrath

Ball Park, Experiment and ‘Oxygen’, The Play

20 Jun

1 The Grandchildren had a lovely time in the ball-park and Grand-baby T proved to be quite a climber.

Climbing

2 J had fun discovering what his lung capacity might be. The experiment was in one of his books and proved to be great fun to do.

Experiment

3 KJ and I went to see Oxygen, a new play by Natalie McGrath, in Penzance this evening. It was wonderful, moving and totally involving. Many of you who read my blog know that my Great Granny, Granny Wiseman, was a Suffragette who was imprisoned in Holloway and force fed and that we have her Holloway Brooch in the family. I have been brought up to be very proud of her.
Tonight, I am completely overwhelmed by what she and others did to win the vote for women. It is one thing to be told family history, to read novels and non-fiction, but to see it brought alive on stage was something else indeed. I wept in the knowledge that my Great Granny went through this barbaric treatment for her beliefs. If you are anywhere where this play is being performed, do go and see it! The music is moving, the acting superb and the story, beautifully told, one everyone should know.
Venues through the Southwest and all the way up to Hyde Park can be found here.

Holloway brooch

15 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 20, 2013 in Dreadnought, family history, History, photography, Postaday2013, Suffragettes, theatre

Tags: Holloway Brooch, Holloway Prison, Natalie McGrath, Oxygen, Suffragette, Suffragists, Votes for Women

The Suffragette Pilgrimage, Sea Gazing and Ice-cream

19 Jun

1 More than fifty walkers turned up today to watch the opening episode of Oxygen and to walk in the footsteps of their Suffragette sisters marking the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage of 1913. That was so brilliant! The play was inspiring and moving and then the walk started, led by the actors, singing songs from the play. What a day!

The episode begins at Land’s End

The episode continues

One of the actors answering J’s question,”Why did they walk all the way to London?”

Grandbaby T watching the whole cast singing

The walkers set off led by the cast

About to hit the trail, The Cornish Way

On their way

The actors waving the walkers on their way

2 The children and I only walked at the start and then waved everyone off (There will be more photos very soon from the walkers themselves) We took the children to play in the sand at Mount’s Bay……

Gazing out to sea

3 …….. and finished off the day with a delicious Cornish ice-cream, thinking all the afternoon of those of my dear friends walking the trail at the same time as those amazing women walked exactly 100 years ago today. The Suffragettes in 1913 walked for themselves and for those who couldn’t and that’s what my people did for me today. Thank you.