"There is nothing so wild as beauty unleashed from its chains; nothing so beautiful as a wild thing wanting to break free and run with the wind of fortune. To see someone/something that is no longer bound to the chains of social constraint and the mores of polite society is to view the true mark of independence streaking through the flames of defiant valour.
I have always admired strong-minded women who refuse to be defined by the wishes and desires of any man. As an avid reader of British History, chief among these wild spirits who fought all their lives to break free were women of the Suffragette Movement of the late 19th and early 20th century, led by Emmeline Pankhurst.
When they became determined to no longer remain mere chattels in a man-made-world, ruled exclusively by men, and for the benefit of men, they decided to do something about it. Their defiance landed them in prison, subjected them to forced starvation and took many to the point of death in order to obtain the suffrage they had been long denied by virtue of their sex and for no other reason than being a woman, the property of their husbands!
Many people are so disillusioned with politics today that when the elections come around, they refuse to exercise their democratic right and vote. They are usually the first ones to moan about what their Government of the day is or isn't doing, or how it's doing it! It makes me particularly angry when it is women who don't vote especially when I think about all the suffering the suffragettes went through on their behalf. When I used to visit primary schools in Yorkshire daily over a period of ten years to hold special assemblies, I always made a point of reminding the girls in the school never to place themselves second in consideration to any boy, and not to allow anyone, adult or child, teacher or parent to put them in that position without protesting about it. I reinforced my view that in the final analysis, it was all about 'self-respect' and reminded the girls that one needed to feel comfortable in their own skin before they could prove effective in their society.
A great novelist at the time heard of my work in this area and was also made aware of the twelve children's stories I'd written about a girl called 'Annie' who refused to be put down by any boy or problem she faced and kept on trying until she got what she wanted. The novelist was Dame Catherine Cookson and she asked me to send her recordings of the Annie stories; saying that she was almost blind and now recorded her books into a microphone instead of writing them before they were published. As it happened, the television actress, Brigit Forsyth had recently recorded these twelve stories for radio transmission. After listening to the Annie stories, Dame Catherine and her husband Tom said they would like to fund a 500-limited-edition publication of all twelve stories and allow the profits from book sales to go to Mencap.
This was a few years before Catherine and Tom, who became good friends of mine and supporters of my charitable work and published books, died within weeks of each other. I was to learn in the brief time I knew Catherine that had she lived at the time of Emmeline Pankhurst, she would have willingly marched in the front line, carried the Suffragette flag and even thrown a few stones through windows in protest.
'The Action Annie Omnibus' has been published a number of times over the years and is ideal reading for the 5-9-year-old. It is suitable for either boys or girls. There is one seasonal story for each month of the year and all profits from book sales go to charitable causes in perpetuity. Another old friend of mine, the great, late Sir Norman Wisdom, travelled from his home in the Isle of Mann to Mirfield Library as a favour to me during the 1990s to read from this book to two hundred children sitting in the forecourt. The event was widely covered by television and radio broadcasts and Norman did a number of his favourite stumbles throughout his rendition of the story. The book is available from www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com.
My message to all females is simply this: Place not your anchor in the harbour of splendid isolation. Instead, hoist your sails high and fly your flag proudly wherever you travel. Forever walk free, dream your own dreams and live a life you feel suitable for yourself. Remain determined to chart your own map of journeys and plot your own course of travel in this brave new world. Now, that's what I consider to be a fitting New Year's resolution for any girl or woman, worth their salt!" William Forde: December 28th, 2017.