Cinderella joins suffragettes in Annie Kenney walk

Cinderella (Shorelle Hepkin) joins Gail Richards and Susan Wildman.

The Oldham Coliseum’s Cinderella has joined suffragettes commemorating Annie Kenney’s role in extending the rights of women in Britain.

On Saturday, Gail Richards and Susan Wildman, Chair and Vice-Chair of Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s Board of Trustees, undertook an Annie Kenney walk.

They were dressed as suffragettes to raise awareness of the local heroine.

They walked from Annie Kenney’s childhood home in Springhead, past the church where she worshipped, and the site of the mill where she worked, to the Town Hall – where she berated her MP Winston Churchill.

They then carried on to the theatre, where they met up with Cinderella, played by Shorelle Hepkin, before the matinee performance of this year’s pantomime.

Gail and Susan are raising money to help fund the statue to commemorate Annie Kenney, which is due to be unveiled in Oldham outside the Old Town Hall on Friday.

Annie Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was one of the few working class suffragettes.

She was imprisoned for the cause, alongside Christabel Pankhurst and went on to become deputy leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1912, while Christabel was in exile abroad.

Not as well-known as other suffragette leaders, she convinced Prime Ministers and working women alike with the power of her public speaking.

The commemorative statue of Annie Kenney follows two years of hard work and fundraising overseen by Oldham West and Royton MP, Jim McMahon, who is also Chair of the Annie Kenney Memorial Fund.

The date of the statue unveiling marks 100 years since women in Britain first exercised their right to vote.