The Northern Angels

Introduction

It is International Women's Day as I write this and in the Market Place in Alnwick is an amazing shop and cafe called Nothern Angels which you can visit on their website below.

Part of their inspiration for their Northern Angels range was from a book called ‘The Angels of the North’ by Joyce Quin and Moira Kilkenny.

This is a fascinating read, which covers many influential women who have come from the North and how remarkable their history is - often with outstanding contributions to society.

The music I have included is "Grace Darling" by The Strawbs from their album "Ghosts" and she is one of the North East women featured in this piece.

I chatted with a couple of girls in the shop and they showed me rounds and pointed out many of their wonderful products such as these candles. These are just one of their products.

The idea for this was to tell you about these amazing North East women for International Women's Day. So here are eight women that you should be aware of:

Lucy Bronze - England Footballer

Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze MBE (born 28 October 1991), is a professional footballer who currently plays as a right-back for Liga F club Barcelona and the England women's national team.

She has previously played for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool, Lyon and Manchester City as well as North Carolina at college level in the United States and Great Britain at the Olympics.

Bronze has won three UEFA Women's Champions League titles with Lyon as well as three FA Women's Super League titles with Liverpool and Manchester City. With England, she won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.

Emily Wilding Davison

Emily was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century.

Grace Darling

Grace Horsley Darling was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838 brought her national fame.

Gertrude Bell

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels.

Catherine Cookson

Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, DBE was a British writer. She is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping a hundred million while retaining a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers.

Mary Midgley

Mary Beatrice Midgley was a British philosopher. A senior lecturer in philosophy at Newcastle University, she was known for her work on science, ethics and animal rights.

Rachel Parsons

An engineer and advocate for women’s employment rights. She was a founder of the British Women’s Engineering Society in 1919. The organisation promoted the retention of women engineers after World War 1, as well as supporting engineering as a career for women.

Dr Ruth Nicholson

A Newcastle-born woman who went on to become a prominent surgeon in the early 20th century. She was a founding member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929, being elevated to fellow of the college in 1931.

These short descriptions are taken from The Northern Angels site, but they have a lot more detail for each amazing woman on their site.

These are just eight women who have improved our world with their work and achievements and just a few stars who are worth finding out more about, shining examples of how we should all be.

Take some time to visit The Northern Angels site. This week I am going to visit the shop and have coffee and scones and talk to them again about these amazing women who have inspired them, and many others.