CARRYING a handmade Wheels of Change banner, a group of women and girls from Tweeddale added plenty of local colour last Sunday when they joined more than 10,000 others on a mass march through the streets of Edinburgh to mark the suffrage centenary.

Part of the UK-wide Processions event, participants wore either green, white or violet – the colours of the suffrage movement – in a march from The Meadows to Holyrood Park that was carefully choreographed to create a mass artwork showing a striped suffragette banner.

Participants followed in the footsteps of Scottish suffragettes, who marched with their banners along Princes Street in 1909 during a demonstration arranged by the Women’s Social and Political Union.

In 1918, the UK Parliament passed the People Act, which gave women over the age of 30, and who also owned property, the right to vote.

The Tweeddale group’s involvement followed an invitation by art organisations Artichoke and 14 18 Now, the event organisers, for the Eastgate Theatre to be one of 100 organisations around the country to commission the creation of a handmade banner that could be paraded as part of the march.

The resulting project became a true community effort with more than 90 people involved in the design and creation of the banner in the three months leading up to the event.

Lead artist Deborah Campbell visited local Girlguiding groups, Peebles High School and Tweeddale Youth Action to discuss and create the Tweeddale banner.

Deborah’s inspiration for the design came from a photograph of a Suffragette on a bike – an image that resonated strongly with this cycling-mad part of the world.

A series of textile workshops for community and school groups around Tweeddale took place as well as an open session for adults over the Easter weekend, during which participants learned embroidery skills as they hand-sewed felt leaves with words that they associated with women’s rights.

The leaves were later added to the banner by Deborah.

Alex Saunders, project coordinator from the Eastgate Theatre told us: “Everyone who took part was so proud and happy to be there.

"The Eastgate would like to say a huge thank you to Deborah for creating this very special banner, and to all those who contributed to its design and creation.”

To spread awareness of the project, and to involve as many in the local community as possible, materials were also made available for people to make their own leaves at home.

This resulted in a further 52 hand-sewn and personalised leaves being added to the banner.

During the march, the Tweeddale banner was held aloft by a group of 35 adults, teens and children from the Tweeddale area, including girls from First Peebles Guides.

Benny Lawrie, county commissioner for Girlguiding Scotland, added: “It was an experience the guides will certainly not forget, and they were so privileged to carry that beautiful banner."