MEMBERS of Hellifield Women’s Institute ‘stormed’ the village’s latest parish council meeting - as part of celebrations marking the centenary of the Suffragette movement which helped to gain women the vote!

Wearing the dress of their forebears of 1918 and carrying ‘We demand the Vote’ placards and banners, they asked for action on the plastic waste disfiguring local becks and damaging the environment.

And last week they undertook a litter clearance session in the village as part of their campaign to raise public awareness of the issue.

Hellifield WI president Karen Dunwoodie explained: “We are so grateful to those women who all those years ago were treated extremely badly and sacrificed so much to enable us to have the vote today.

“Hellifield WI like to do things in style and we have had a great deal of fun dressing up and trying to re-live what our ancestors went through.

“Our activities culminated in ‘Storming Hellifield Parish Council’.

“As we already have the vote, we instead raised the very topical and important issue of plastic and waste that is left lying around in our becks, damaging our wildlife and environment.

“We realize the parish council does not have direct responsibility for this, but have asked them to use their influence with the relevant agency to take this on board.”

The Hellifield branch members have also held other events to mark the centenary - in May they showed the film ‘Suffragette’ in the village hall and in July held a tea party at Hellifield Station.

In 1918, after a long campaign by the Suffragettes, women over 30 were finally given the legal right to vote. Ten years later the voting age for women was lowered to 21 and in 1969 the voting age for men and women was lowered to 18.