A public talk on the suffragettes will take place at Clare Museum on International Women’s Day (8th March) at 3.00pm.
The talk will correspond with the unveiling of a quilt made to commemorate the centenary of women securing the right to vote in Ireland in 1918. The quilt was made by a Limerick & Clare Education & Training Board Core skills/ Family Learning textiles class at the Further Education & Training Centre in Ennis.
The inspiration for the quilt came from looking at the history of women’s suffrage, and also from looking at Clare Museum’s collection of embroidered work from the ‘Clare Embroidery School’, made in the early 1900’s in Ennis.
Before 1918, women could not vote in Ireland. Then the law changed so that all women over 30 years of age could vote for the first time in the General Election of December 1918. This change in the law was mainly brought about by some active citizens known as the Suffragettes, including Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, pictured in the quilt. She smashed the windows in Dublin Castle with a small hammer to draw attention to the cause.
The quilt also included a panel with the quote “Be militant each in your own way” from Emmeline Pankhurst, the British suffragette. Smocking and the flower embroidery panels are made using a skill that the women at the ‘Clare Embroidery School’ would have learnt, and are inspired by the collection from a century ago the class viewed at the museum.
The quilt will be on display until June, and the public talk is open to all on 8th March at 3.00pm at Clare Museum. Admission is free.
Shannon
A panel discussion on diversity, sponsored by Shannon Airport and SES, in honour of International Women’s Day at St. Caimin’s School, Shannon, Co Clare on Friday 8th of March 2019 at 9.30am.
The discussion will be moderated by Andrew Murphy, MD of Shannon Airport, and the Keynote Speaker will be Dr Niamh Shaw, an Irish engineer, scientist and performer.
Panellists include Julie Dickinson, Managing Director of Shannon Engine Support Ltd.(SES); Mary Considine, Deputy CEO, Finance and Corporate Services, Shannon Group plc; Loyola O’Brien, Chief Fire Officer and Airport; Police Sergeant at Shannon Airport; Dr Owen Doody, Senior Lecturer at University of Limerick; Dr Leah Wallace, Physics Lecturer at Limerick Institute of Technology; Marie Crowley, Sergeant, An Garda Síochána.