Brent Women of Renown

Brent women of Renown

In December 2022, Cricklewood Improvement Programme was awarded funding by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver an educational programme ‘Brent Women of Renown’ (BWR) for children in schools and supported by the elder community.  The BWR project highlighted the lives of three pioneer women who lived and worked in Brent during their lifetime:

Violet Doudney, a suffragette who was imprisoned for protesting for equality in voting rights. Amy Johnson CBE, an aviation and engineering pioneer who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during the second world war.  Dame Stephanie Shirley CH who arrived in London on the Kindertransport at the age of five, a mathematician, pioneer computer engineer, businesswoman and philanthropist who was interviewed for the project.

The project team of Angela Payne, social historian, our artist and teaching assistant Amanda Beasley and Amanda Epe, recruited to be the project lead with experience in teaching and local heritage film production, researched heritage stories from archival documents, online articles and publications and attended events on the pioneer women and their related industries to ensure that robust archival information supported the work in the schools and the relevance to the age of the children.  Sources for each of the women were developed with the links to the documents, films and photographs.

The Brent cinematographer Turab Shah from Other Cinemas joined the group along with Damean our website designer ensuring that we delivered and presented the desired outcomes.  Our CEO Danny Maher provided advice and support.

The outputs from this very successful project include the Film – (Click here to Watch the Film), the E-book (Click here to Read the eBook) for schools to use and the Evaluation report (Click here to Read the Report) which provide all the information on the project.

The report of our BWR project

This ebook contains information about the Brent Women of Renown project, with background information on the three pioneer women. It covers the process from the research, preparation of the school workshops, format of the lessons, elders event and the filming and screening of the documentary.  With highlighted outcomes and some feedback from the participants, this book is a great resource for other schools to use.

Brent Women of Renown: Pioneers in Politics and STEM

is a heritage funded short documentary film by Angela Payne and Amanda Epe which highlights the lives of the imprisoned Suffragette Violet Doudney, pioneer engineer and aviator Amy Johnson CBE and child refugee on the Kindertransport to pioneer computer engineer and philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley CH. The film documents the lives of these pioneers, the workshops delivered in Brent Schools by the project lead and film director Amanda Epe supported by Amanda Beasley and features interviews with Dame Stephanie, Dr Midge Gillies – Amy Johnson’s biographer and Maggie Toy, the granddaughter of Suffragette Violet Doudney.

The film was screened at Kiln Cinema in November 2023 to a full audience and was opened by The Worshipful the Mayor of the LB Brent, Cllr Orleen Hylton.  The montage of photographs of the event participants includes the details of each of the photos, see below.

Brent Women of Renown
Kiln Cinema Board
Premiere 06 – 11 – 2023
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Guests arrive and networking in the foyer
Guests arrive
Angela Payne welcomed the Worshipful the Mayor of the LB Brent, Cllr Orleen Hylton, to the BWR event. The Mayor with Angela Payne and Alex Thomas, Head of Kingsbury High School.
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The Mayor opens the event.
The Mayor opens the event.
Mayor of the LB Brent
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Cricklewood Town Team
Angela Payne
Introduces the Cricklewood Town Team, partners, schools, film crew and others involved in the project.
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Interview of
Dame Stephanie Shirley
Dame Stephanie Shirley’s interview was the main feature in the film, shot by Turab Shah, Other Cinemas with Jake Pentland, technician, in Dame Stephanie’s residence.
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Brent Women of Renown
Salusbury Primary School
Salusbury Primary School student stars wow the audience with their Tower Story Poems.
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Brent Women of Renown
Kingsbury High School
Kingsbury High Student Volunteers with their headteacher Alex Thomas
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Brent Women of Renown
Kingsbury High School
Kingsbury High Creative Writing Challenge Students read their outstanding winning pieces to the audience. L_R: Zohaib Nazir, Salwa Ali and Joice Nageswara
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Brent Women of Renown
Q&A Student performances
The Q&A followed the student performances. The panel of Michelle Ginty, Executive Head at Fryent Primary School & Salusbury Primary School, Dr Midge Gillies, Amy Johnson’s biographer and Maggie Toy, granddaughter of Suffragette Violet Doudney.
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Brent Women of Renown
Cllrs Krupesh Hirani and Anne Clarke
Krupesh Hiranie, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow and Anne Clarke London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden feeling inspired by the stories of the pioneering Brent women and the engagement from the partner schools.
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Brent Women of Renown
Film director celebrating
Danny Maher, Chair of the Cricklewood Town Team (CTT), Angela Payne Director CTT, Amanda Beasley, CTT and Amanda Epe, film director celebrating a SOLD OUT successful film screening.
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Brent Women of Renown
Proud of the outcome
Beverley Deans, Salusbury School, Amanda Epe and Amanda Beasley, student costume designer, proud of the outcome of the whole community engagement and learning as they reflect on the work through the school year.
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eBook

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PHOTOS