The David Lean Cinema Campaign will mark International Women’s Day next Tuesday, March 8, with a 7.30pm screening of Make More Noise! Suffragettes in Silent Film.

Suffragette Eleanor Higginson being arrested when campaigning for votes for women. Her granddaughter, Eleanor Redshaw, is speaking after a screening at the David Lean Cinema next week

This compilation of films from the British Film Institute’s archive shows how suffragettes were portrayed on the screen while their battles were being waged on the streets outside.

The 2015 feature film, Suffragette, was the Campaign’s most popular screening to date, with eight sell-out showings in the art house cinema, part of the Croydon Clocktower complex, so next Tuesday’s event should reward  all who wish to deepen their understanding of the movement’s achievements.

Eleanor Redshaw, a past president of Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, will be a special guest, participating in a post-film discussion. Redshaw’s grandmother, Eleanor Higginson, joined the suffragette movement in 1910 and went on to become a prominent figure who knew its leaders. She even later named her house “Pankhurst” in honour of the movement’s leader.

Redshaw describes her grandmother as “a window-breaker, a fire-starter and a jailbird”. Her activities for the cause include being arrested during an attempt to lobby the King.

During her talk, Redshaw will also display a fascinating selection of items from her own collection of suffragette memorabilia.

“We’re privileged that Eleanor will take part in this very special evening,” said Adrian Winchester, the chairman of the Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign. “It will remind us that the voting rights taken for granted today wouldn’t have been achieved without the bravery and sacrifices made by women such as her grandmother.”

Tickets are £8 (£6.50 concessions) and can be booked here.

For a full listing of films being shown at the David Lean Cinema in March, click here

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