To mark the special significance of 2018 for women, an imaginative booklet ‘Discover Amazing Women by Rail’ has been launched.
Part of the Marvellous Days Out series, the booklet highlights the extraordinary lives of women – including Knutsford’s Elizabeth Gaskell and Alison Uttley – who have lived in 32 towns, villages or cities with stations along the Mid-Cheshire line (Chester to Manchester) and Calder Valley Line (Leeds to Manchester).
The free booklet along with a comprehensive website features write-ups and illustrations about the women as well as information about nearby attractions and can be downloaded at www.amazingwomenbyrail.org.uk
Beautifully sketched illustrations of many of the women are by Cheshire artist, Nicky Thompson and the booklet has been researched by historian, Richard Lysons who gives information on where and how to do further research and follow-up reading.
Yorkshire-born, Dame Jenni Murray DBE, broadcaster, journalist and author, talks in the forward to the booklet about the ‘amazing women who were born with the grit of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the great cities of Manchester and Leeds in their bones.”
Sally Buttifant, Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership Officer, said:
“When you are sitting on a train it is not easy to appreciate what lies just beyond the station. Following the success of last Summer’s 1930s-style posters along the Chester to Piccadilly line, we wanted to find another way of encouraging people to step off the train and explore hidden histories, whether people’s lives or places. This eclectic mix of amazing women, who embody courage, intelligence, femininity and passion, was too good not to explore but so was the chance to highlight fantastic places on the rail line, such as the Elizabeth Gaskell Museum, Tatton Park and Knutsford Heritage Centre as well as the fascinating Victoria Baths in Manchester, Rochdale’s Pioneer Museum, Halifax’s Hebden Bridge and Hebden Bridge’s Heptonstall Museum.”
