Your say / Society
‘I was leading a peaceful army’
Having arrived in Bristol five months ago, I’ve wondered how I’ll ever make friends. To suddenly find myself standing on a ladder, yelling through a megaphone to over a thousand cheering Bristolians at Saturday’s Women’s March on Bristol, made me realise I probably just needed the right opportunity to meet people.
I’d found myself in this situation after searching for the Bristol’s Women’s March, three days before the global movement was due to go ahead.
I realised nothing was planned in Bristol, and felt brave. How hard could it be? I created an event page at the kitchen table, over a cup of tea. I was fully prepared to march around Queen Square by myself.
is needed now More than ever
I’d never been to a march before, but demanding basic standards of equality among humans is something I feel pretty strongly about. It took around six hours for me to realise I’m not the only person in Bristol who feels like this.
The march gained traction at an astonishing speed. When I woke up on Thursday morning and registrations were in the low hundreds, I panicked. I headed down to the police station to confess my sins. They were jovial, and promised manpower on the day.
I’d also applied for Bristol to be recognised on the global Women’s March website as an official sister march. On Friday night our application was successful. This fact was brought to my attention because my phone started beeping continuously. Registrations were now coming in at a rate of one a minute. 1,100 sign-ups when I went to bed on Friday night. My dreams were a riot, my court case and prison.
The responsibility I felt waking up that morning was indescribable. Time for me, an introvert, a woman who’s asked for permission and apologised for my existence my whole life, to lead a city as we marched on a global stage.
My husband Stephen, realising how softly spoken I am, had sourced me a megaphone. We walked to Queen Square with my mother-in law, Sue, full of nervous energy.
People arrived in their hundreds. Women, men, children, pets. Smiling, chatting, excited. Peaceful. Determined to have their say. In the freezing sunshine, I hugged the wonderful women who’d agreed to volunteer at the 11th hour, climbed my ladder, and quietly said hello to a silent, waiting crowd.
As the words spilled out of my heart and out of my mouth, my voice grew. The crowd grew too, as we started our slow march around the square. We were asking for something we shouldn’t have to be asking for in 2017. Equality. Representation for diversity. A rhetoric of hope and not hate.
We reached College Green, and the procession was still making its way out of Queen Square. We were well over one thousand people.
I felt like a lioness now. Strong, proud, confident. Leading a peaceful army. Angry these issues even need demonstrating.
My first word when I climbed back up that ladder on College Green was a roar. I don’t know what I said after that, but it was punctuated by sobs. I saw tears and I heard cheers. We chanted and we danced and we celebrated this city’s diversity with joy.
The feeling of having created this event in 72 hours and led Bristol’s voice in Saturday’s global chorus is one that will take me a while to process.
On that day, our city had its say in a historical global event. And on that day, I found the inner confidence and self-belief I so often deny myself. I get the impression others experienced that feeling on Saturday, too.
What an incredible new group of friends I’ve found myself!
Carly Wilkinson recently moved to Bristol after 10 years in London. She is a blogger at www.projecthb.co.uk and a fitness instructor-in-training, promoting a brand of happy, sassy and realistic health and fitness for women. She is also an introvert, optimist, astronomy enthusiast.