100 YEARS OF WOMEN IN COUNCIL

4.55.00pm GMT Mon 29th Oct 2007

Cllr Ann Denham, Liberal Democrat – Almondbury, who is organising the stall, said ““For many years women have being making a huge contribution to political life across the Kirklees area.”

On Thursday 1st November Liberal Democrat Councillors will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the right for women to become elected members of Council.

In August 1907 the Qualification of Women Act was passed by the government, allowing women candidates to stand in district, town and county elections. It was then on the 1st November 1907 the first local elections were held in which women were legally allowed to put themselves forward as councillors.

Members of the Kirklees Liberal Democrat Group are holding a street stall in Huddersfield to celebrate the anniversary and encourage more women to consider nominating themselves for future elections. The stall will take place at Market Place, outside Barclays Bank, between 12 noon and 2pm on 1 November.

Early pioneers in the Kirklees area included Mrs Mary Blamires who was elected, as a Liberal, to Huddersfield Council in 1923. Mrs Blamires could very well have been the first elected woman councillor in the Kirklees area.

Mrs Margaret Watts was incumbent in All Saints' ward, representing Dewsbury Council, in the 1920's. The first woman Mayor of Huddersfield was Mary E. Sykes some 20 years later, in 1945.

Cllr Ann Denham, Liberal Democrat - Almondbury, who is organising the stall, said ""For many years women have being making a huge contribution to political life across the Kirklees area."

"Nowadays it seems strange to think of local government without the presence of women Councillors. But we need more women to put themselves forward - women Councillors here in Kirklees still only make up a third of the Councillors, and I am sure that there are a great many talented and passionate women out there who would do a great job of representing their communities."

There are currently 24 women councillors, in Kirklees. A fair representation of women means we need another 10 or 11 women councillors on the council.