MILL GIRLS

I thoroughly enjoyed the recent celebration in film and drama of the Mill Girls in Garnock Community Campus in Glengarnock.

First was a dramatisation of the Kilbirnie Networkers’ Strike in 1913.

Buoyed by the recent suffragette movement the National Federation of Women Workers was formed and soon the women of Kilbirnie working in W&J Knox Ltd were demanding better pay and conditions, striking for over six months before a deal was reached.

This was followed by a film documenting the working lives of women who worked in Kilbirnie’s former Mill, presented by Stoneyholm Mill Trust.

Some of the former Mill Girls were in the audience and also featured in the film. I had the opportunity to have a chat with Joyce Walker, a well-kent face in the Garnock Valley.