Four workshops took place in May and June 2006 exploring the lives of some great East End women. Stories include those of Sylvia Pankhurst and the East End Suffragettes, Elizabeth Garrett of the London Hospital and the match girls of the Victorian Bryant & May factory, whose strike brought down the monolithic employer and was a crucial victory for the embryonic labour movement.

Participants explored their local area and unearthed and explored their East End heroines, in the process expanding their knowledge of the local area, of 'herstory', and developing research and writing skills. One of My Heroines goals is to cultivate informal learning and make learning fun and non-threatening to vulnerable families who may feel intimidated by educational institutions and more usual teaching methods.

The best work to come out of the project will soon be posted in the 'Local Heroines' section of www.hagsharlotsheroines.com

This project was funded by Awards for All.

Youth Project - Brighton Belles and Sussex Heroines
This is was storytelling, drama and creative writing project targeted at young women in Portslade and Whitehawk, Brighton. It ran for 12 weeks, finishing in July 2006.

The weekly sessions helped participants explore their own imaginative powers, whilst discovering pioneering, unconventional women who paved the way for others to follow. By journeying through time and exploring options we developed a sense of empowerment and possibility. Through these workshops we want young people to discover fruitful ways of dealing with the challenges they face, be better able to make sense of our world and their place within it.

Portslade

The girl group at the Village Centre, Portslade came together specifically for the My Heroines project.

Participants explored their local area and their Brighton and Sussex heroines. Brighton is a seaside town and there was a particular interest in the fate of women at sea. The young women explored and created stories around the Titanic disaster of 1912, with an emphasis on women who travelled steerage class on the 'unsinkable' ship.

Whitehawk

The girl group at Whitehawk youth centre has a 12 strong membership, including two volunteers.

Work in the initial session illustrated that most of the young women look to their own mothers and grandmothers for inspiration and advice. The group then went on to explore the ways in which bullying is dealt with in the 21st century compared to how it was tackled when their heroines, members of their family, were young. The group also looked at what makes someone 'good' or 'bad', heroic or cowardly, and a short play was devised and written by the group on these themes. The final session consisted of a performance of the girls' play, Gangs of the Hawk, to a specially invited audience of family, friends and youth workers. The group also helped to choose and make costume, props, scenery, music and publicity materials like posters and a programme.

The girls named themselves The Glitter Gang and they hope to devise and stage another performance with My Heroines soon.

The best work to come out of the projects will soon be posted in the 'Local Heroines' section of www.hagsharlotsheroines.com

This project was funded by Awards for All.

Youth Project - My East End Heroines
A storytelling, creative writing and self-development project for young women in East London.

Weekly workshops will run over a 10 week period for two age groups of young women throughout the Winter of 2007. The workshops will build self-confidence; stimulate creative skills and knowledge in literacy, citizenship and local heritage. My Heroines workshops connect oral history to writing and history to 'herstory' by explicitly encouraging participants to unearth and discover their East End heroines. In the process, they will learn more about their area; women over the ages who have contributed to society; and they will learn this in a fun, creative and informal learning environment.

The two projects are targeted at 12 young women aged 11-14 years and 12 young women aged 15-19 years and will address the aspirations, interests, and needs of these young women as they make their way in the world and begin to think about, explore and act on their life interests, and career aspirations. Through the workshops we will help to build self-esteem and self confidence and equip these young women with tools to help them navigate a period of change and prepare them for their lives as young adults, with wider citizenship responsibilities.

This project is supported by the Local Network Fund.