Event pays tribute to Headscarf Revolutionaries

Four memorial benches were covered in flowers on Sunday in honour of a group of women who fought to improve safety in the fishing industry.

The inaugural event paid tribute to Lillian Bilocca, Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mary Denness and Christine Smallbone, who started a campaign following the sinking of three trawlers in the 1960s.

There was also a life-sized sculpture of Bilocca, made from national newspapers, at the ceremony in celebration of her 97th birthday on Tuesday.

Organiser Ian Cuthbert said: "We blanketed those benches with flowers. It was beautiful on the day. It was such a wonderful service."

More than 100 people attended the ceremony at the junction of Boulevard and Hessle Road, including the families of Blenkinsop, Denness and Jensen.

Blenkinsop's daughter Jonmarie said it was "amazing".

She described the four women as "a credit to Hull and a proud piece of our heritage".

Cuthbert, 49, said: "There were always services every year, quite rightly so, for the lost fishermen, but there's never been an event specifically for remembering and celebrating those four women."

He added: "It was the first, but it definitely won't be the last."

The women started campaigning for better safety measures when 58 fishermen lost their lives after three trawlers - St Romanus, Kingston Peridot and Ross Cleveland - sank in 1968.

They started a petition, which got 10,000 signatures over three days, and took it to London where they met with the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

The women established the Fisherman's Charter, which demanded improvements such as a radio operator on every ship, better safety equipment and improved training.

"Overnight, everything changed," Cuthbert said.

"The fishing industry, which was once the most dangerous profession on earth, got that little bit safer thanks to those four women."

Cuthbert began campaigning for recognition for the women in 2016 and is raising funds for a statue dedicated to them.

"There could never be enough recognition for those women and the changes that they made to the fishing industry in 1968, despite overwhelming negativity and opposition from the people at the time."

Cuthbert said Biloccawas getting death threats and poison pen letters, while Blankensop got punched while she was out celebrating her husband's birthday.

"Despite all of that, they were driven. They are very, very strong women," Cuthbert, who personally knew Blenkinsop and Denness, said.

"They are my heroes and I want them to be remembered forever."

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