CEREMONY TO HONOUR DOROTHEA BEALE

On International Women’s Day, Thursday 8th March, representatives from CLC joined women from the Labour Party at Gloucester Cathedral to remember the significant role played by our longest-serving Principal, Dorothea Beale, as an educationalist and suffragist.

A short ceremony took place at the site of Miss Beale’s memorial in the newly-refurbished Lady Chapel. Canon Celia Thomson welcomed everyone, after which Annette Robinson, Women’s Officer at the Gloucester Labour Party, spoke about Miss Beale’s involvement in the suffrage movement and Revd Josie Goodwin, College Chaplain, spoke about Miss Beale’s significant impact in women’s education.

Floral tributes were laid as ‘The March of the Women’ was played and, following a prayer of thanksgiving for Miss Beale, the ceremony closed with a blessing from the Bishop of Gloucester, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek.

It was a great honour to mark the incredible legacy left by Miss Beale, in women’s suffrage as well as in education.