THE inspirational story of Bolton Suffragette will be celebrated by composer and singer Louise Jordan in a show coming to Bolton.

The Hard Way ­— the name of recounts the life of self-taught self-made Hannah Mitchell, who was born in 1871 into rural poverty in the Derbyshire Peak District who at the age of 14 left home and went to live in Bolton where she became a campaigner, speaker, writer, Suffragette, councillor and finally a Manchester City magistrate.

She played a leading role in the Suffragette movement and took on board the fight for Bolton shop workers to have half-day holidays while working as a seamstress in the town.

Following on from the success of her previous one-woman show "No Petticoats Here" Louise was granted Arts Council England funding to write a new solo performance piece around the theme of gender equality. Whilst writing a song about the ‘Votes for Women’ campaign for UK Parliament’s Vote 100 project in 2018 Louise found out about Hannah Mitchell’s remarkable story and became keen to share Hannah’s story more widely.

She said: “History often confines working class women to the home as unremarkable figures destined to a life of domestic drudgery. I want to celebrate Hannah Mitchell as a woman who spoke out about the need for equality amongst people, who became a public figure in addition to managing the workload expected of a woman born into her position. Hannah took action, took responsibility and realised that not all change is revolutionary.

"The Hard Way brings Hannah’s story to life – she was witty with a dry sense of humour, intelligent, honest and compassionate and this offered me wide scope as a songwriter to write varied songs dealing with a wide range of human emotion and experience."

In her fight to secure the vote for women, Hannah was caught by police after interrupting Winston Churchill at an election meeting at Belle Vue, Manchester.

Hannah was sentenced to three days at Strangeways and although she was bailed out by her husband, she said that he was more concerned for his stomach than with the cause! She campaigned all ove rhte country for the cause.

The Hard Way shows at The Barlow in Edgworth on Friday, April 26 at 8pm.

Tickets cost £10 and are available online at www.thebarlow.co.uk/whats-on . For people without internet, online tickets can be purchased over the phone or in person from The Barlow 01204 852216. Booking fee applies.