Friends of Edith Rigby

28/09/2026

Upcoming meeting reminder:

🗓️ Tuesday 6th October
🕰️ 6pm
📍 Central Methodist Church

18/09/2026

We are thrilled to announce that we will be displaying our FIRST EVER EXHIBITION at The Harris Museum in Preston next year, Jan 2027 - April 2027.

"PROTEST: The Preston WSPU and The Fight For The Vote" will be bringing out the stories of all Preston men and women who were involved in the branch, giving the story of grassroots movements beyond the face of Edith Rigby that Preston loves and knows. The exhibition will include new research, new stories and artefacts displayed for the first time.

A particularly interesting aspect is the fact that the branch ran holiday campaigns across the Fylde Coast, and so women from Lytham, St Annes and Blackpool also play a part in the narrative. This area has been especially overlooked.

We are so, so excited to hopefully make their names more known in the area, as their stories deserve to be told just as much as their Branch Leader, Edith’s does.

More info soon - and no better place to do it than The Harris right?! Big thanks to University of Lancashire and University of Warwick Department of History for funding us and making this possible, you are the true epitome of DEEDS NOT WORDS!

12/09/2026

A very successful Heritage Open Days event at The Harris today!

We had people from all walks of life and age groups join us in creating protest placards 🎨 🪧

Thank you to everyone who came along and contributed creatively - we really enjoyed your company and telling you all about the Preston suffragettes 💜🤍💚

📣 Special thanks to The History Department at the University of Warwick and Mapping Women’s Suffrage https://www.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk for their contribution to funding materials & supplies for the day! It is greatly appreciated and it wouldn’t have been possible without their generosity and support 🙏

10/09/2026

2 more days!

Join us this Saturday between 12-4pm if you fancy making suffrage-themed placards with us! 🪧❤️‍🔥

✊ For Heritage Open Days, get creative and discover the stories behind some of history's most powerful protest movements with The Friends of Edith Rigby.

🏛️ Join a hands-on placard-making workshop inspired by The Suffragettes' fight for the vote and early industrial workers campaigning for fair labour conditions.

✏️ Create your own protest placard and explore how visual messages have been used to inspire change throughout history.

📅 Saturday, 12 September
⏰ 12pm – 4pm
📌 The Studio

10/09/2026

06/09/2026

Join us at this Heritage Open Day event we are running at The Harris 💜🤍💚

✊ For Heritage Open Days, get creative and discover the stories behind some of history's most powerful protest movements with The Friends of Edith Rigby.

🏛️ Join a hands-on placard-making workshop inspired by The Suffragettes' fight for the vote and early industrial workers campaigning for fair labour conditions.

✏️ Create your own protest placard and explore how visual messages have been used to inspire change throughout history.

📅 Saturday, 12 September
⏰ 12pm – 4pm
📌 The Studio

01/09/2026

Loving the new mural that includes our Edith by Daverob design !💜🤍💚

21/08/2026

Join us on Saturday 12th September in The Studio at The Harris for our Heritage Open Days “Suffrage Signs of Resistance” workshop 💜🤍💚

📣 Placard making workshop for all:
Discover the power of visual protest in this hands on history and making workshop.

Make your own protest placard used by two major interlinking historical movements; the suffragettes fighting for the vote and the early industrial workforce striking for fair labour conditions.

📸Showcase your finished placard by joining us for a group “protest” photo outside Edith’s former home at 27 Winckley Square after the workshop ❤️‍🔥

https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-event/suffrage-signs-of-resistance.html

18/08/2026

We are awaiting further updates from the councils Empty Heritage Building Strategy Group meeting this week.

Long story short, the 1st floor (original part) of Edith’s former home is at risk of collapse because of sheer neglect.

This is unacceptable.

The owners of this building are only doing the BARE minimum required of them because of orders from Preston City Council and pressure from FoER & Preserving Preston’s Heritage.

Edith deserves better.

💜🤍💚

(Photo’s from documentation publicly available via Preston City Council’s planning portal https://selfservice.preston.gov.uk/service/planning/ApplicationSearch.aspx - application number 06/2026/0661)

P.S the current green steel support needles in the photo’s have been there for a very long time (can’t remember off the top of my head but at least 6 months & I’m being generous there).
So the owners clearly already knew the building’s structure was at risk way before the most recent works order from the council.

05/06/2026

Lytham’s Suffragette, Nurse and Guardian of the Poor - The Forgotten Life of Mary Johnson

We are very busy at the moment working on our funded projects which will allow us to display the stories of the Preston WSPU branch.

In the meantime, here is a little bit about one of the women we’re including in our interpretation. Mary Johnson worked alongside Edith Rigby to broaden the reach of the WSPU - successfully running the Lytham and St Anne’s district.