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In Pictures: Women celebrate 100 years since winning right to vote

Women celebrated the centenary of winning suffrage in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
Women celebrated the centenary of winning suffrage in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Women celebrated the centenary of winning suffrage in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Thousands of women gathered in cities around Britain to celebrate 100 years of women having the vote.

Centenary celebrations in Scotland
Centenary celebrations in Scotland Centenary celebrations in Scotland as women mark 100 years of the vote (Lesley Martin/PA)

The parades in the UK’s capitals were each part of Processions, a mass participation artwork taking place simultaneously in those cities to mark the achievements of the women’s suffrage movement.

Procession artwork march
Procession artwork march The Processions artwork march in Edinburgh (Lesley Martin/PA

Women and girls on the march in Edinburgh wore suffragette colours of green, violet and white and were choreographed to appear as a moving suffragette flag. They met at the Meadows and paraded through the city, marching down the Royal Mile to the sounds of a piper playing Flower Of Scotland and past Scotland’s parliament Holyrood.

Procession artwork march
Procession artwork march A girl joins the Processions’ artwork march in Scotland (Lesley Martin/PA)

Meanwhile, many of the estimated 5,000 participants in Belfast used Processions 2018 to express support for a change in abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

A woman calling for abortion reform in Northern Ireland
A woman calling for abortion reform in Northern Ireland A woman calling for abortion reform in Northern Ireland takes part in the Processions’ artwork march in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

In London, the parade moved from Hyde Park down Piccadilly, past Trafalgar Square and down towards the Thames.

The march through London
The march through London (From left) Jean, Cecilia and Sandy after taking part in the march through central London (Kathryn Younger/PA)

One woman in her 40s who came along to the event with friends said: “We wanted our children to understand what happened 100 years ago and that they can’t take for granted all the things they have now.”

A woman joins the parade in Scotland
A woman joins the parade in Scotland A woman joins the parade in Scotland, as thousands mark 100 years since the Representation of the People Act (Lesley Martin/PA)

And crowds gathered at Cardiff City’s football stadium where the march in Wales began. Thousands of women moved through the streets of the Welsh capital in a sea of colour.

Finally, to give an idea of the scale of it all…

The Processions’ artwork march in Scotland
The Processions’ artwork march in Scotland The Processions’ artwork march in Scotland (Lesley Martin/PA)