I write this on March 8th, International Women’s Day. Sunday’s Datrows walk, led by Jan Tebbett, was a walk and talk to celebrate women connected with Canterbury.
We assembled in the Dane John gardens. A cold sunny morning, good for a walk if well wrapped up. Replica Victorian bandstand. Burial mound. Learnt that there was a world war two hospital nearby. A flat urban walk: no mud. Passed by Norman castle. St Mildred’s church. Stour street. Greyfriars garden. Westgate gardens, given to city by Williamson family. St Peters Street. Marlowe theatre. Chaucer statue. Butchery Lane. Lady Woottons Green, where the walk ended between statues of Queen Betha and King Ethelbert.
Jan stopped to give talks at intervals. Steve Tebbett held up pictures. Clearly Jan had done a lot of research. Confess i’d heard of less than half of the women. Education is an important aspect of women’s day.
Pity about man with loud musical backpack and a xylophonist.
I walked home via a welcome coffee in the Dane John. Three miles in total for me.
Many thanks to Jan. Must have taken much preparation.
For the record the women were:
Queen Bertha, St Mildred, Aphra Benn, Susanna de Planaz, Mary Tourtel, Harriet Halhead, Florence Kinsford Cotterell, Catherine Williamson, Audrey Williams, Judge Adele Williams, and the nurses of the VAD hospital.
Rambling Brummie 