The Headscarf Revolutionaries: Lillian Bilocca and the Hull Triple-Trawler Disaster

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Today's walk will soon be followed by another, with a 'Headscarf March' throughout the city centre set to take place on Wednesday, March 8. Devised in part by David Burns of BBC Radio Humberside, the march will see local people wearing their own headscarves to raise awareness and celebrate the achievements of four of Hull's most admirable figures. The heroic story of these women in the face of tragedy highlights the fact that change comes from the populace. Lillian Bilocca: Plaque for woman who revolutionised safety at sea". BBC News. 22 January 2022 . Retrieved 22 January 2022. Gibbons, Trevor (4 February 2018). "Triple trawler tragedy: The Hull fishermen who never came home". BBC News. BBC . Retrieved 8 February 2018. a b c d e f Lavery, Brian W. (23 September 2004). "Bilocca , Lillian [Lil] (1929–1988)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/72725. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Maxine Peake has written a play entitled The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca which opened in Hull in November 2017. An earlier play by Val Holmes, who grew up in Hull at the time of the tragedy, was entitled Lil. [4] The Red Production Company is working on a TV drama adaptation of Lil's actions during and after the tragedy. [4] There are times when history seems to erupt in chorus. Sometimes the cause of synchronicity is obvious, as in the World War that preceded uprisings and revolutions from Clydeside to Moscow, or the economic collapse that by 2011 had sparked revolts as diverse as the English riots and the Arab Spring. At other times, the connections are harder to explain: why was 1848 the year that modernity clashed with feudalism across much of Europe and Latin America? Why did 1649 witness the Ormee of Bordeaux and The Diggers’ colonies in England? Sometimes, it seems, there is simply something in the air.Three plaques will be unveiled on Friday, August 18. The three Headscarf Revolutionists honoured will be Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mary Denness and Christine Jensen MBE for their part in improving the safety standards at sea in the 1960s, which has saved thousands of lives. They were led by Lil. Analysing the events Lavery describes, one might reach two reasonable but contradictory conclusions. Pessimistically, one might note – as John Prescott accepted once in power – that capitalism can’t be reformed. More optimistically, one might add that direct action gets the goods – in a few weeks a few women won changes that for their sector were at least as significant as the concessions earned a few months later by millions of French workers who rendered the state helpless and momentarily forced the government to abdicate. Their other conditions involved ensuring that all trawlers in the UK were fully equipt with necessary safety equipment and that safety ships would be sent to monitor conditions and be a ship's first port of call should one ever be in trouble. The 13-mile walk saw the fundraisers start in Goxhill on the south bank, before crossing over the bridge and making their way to Hessle Road. Along the way, they stopped at each of the Headscarf Revolutionaries' houses as a show of respect, before finishing their walk at the Hull Fishing Heritage Centre on Boulevard. A colourful march through Hull city centre was done in honour of the Headscarf Revolutionaries today.

a b c d e f Willetts, Chloe (19 August 2015). "Quest for change penned in memoir – Kapiti News – Kapiti News News". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2017.The revolutionaries of the Hessle Road Women’s Committee showed the power of grassroots campaigns. The women had no political experience, all being regular people from a regular city. They affected change at the highest level of government in a matter of weeks. The Headscarf Revolutionaries is an enthralling read, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary woman, and an important addition to working class history. Bilocca has been described as a national figure and a local folk hero. [2] She was commemorated by a Hull City Council plaque in Hessle Road in 1990 that reads "In recognition of the contributions to the fishing industry by the women of Hessle Road, led by Lillian Bilocca, who successfully campaigned for better safety measures following the loss of three Hull trawlers in 1968"; another plaque in her honour is at the Hull Maritime Museum. [13] A mural on Hull's Anlaby Road painted by Mark Ervine and Kev Largey depicts Bilocca and her connections with the "headscarf revolutionaries" and the triple trawler tragedy. [11] The proposal from Hull City Council and the Hull Bullnose Heritage Group was favoured by local residents after engagement between all three parties. Earlier this month, the special memorial garden to honour those lost at sea found its permanent home on St Andrew's Quay.

a b c d e f g h i Youngs, Ian (26 October 2017). "Why Hull fishwife is Maxine Peake's hero". BBC News . Retrieved 31 October 2017. One ordinary fisheries worker decided to take things into her own hands. Losing a son herself in the tragedy she saw a need for change. Lavery largely resists analysis, describing events with impassioned objectivity. The book is meticulously researched and his admiration for Lil and the campaign is most revealed by his commitment to understanding the community he’s writing about and describing events as fully and accurately as he can. He saves his analysis for the afterword: Public outcry of the situation died down and life went on. The city of Kingston-Upon-Hull marched on. It relied on the fishing industry at sea and on-shore to live. The tragedy lived on in the family’s heads as their loved ones sailed off once more. a b c d "Telling stories of Hull's unsung freedom fighters". Yorkshire Post. 13 June 2014 . Retrieved 31 October 2017.The BBC broadcast a documentary entitled "Hull's Headscarf Heroes" in February 2018, to mark fifty years since the loss of the three trawlers. [14] While the government claim that climate activists are terrorist groups, they simply cannot label huge swathes of the population as “extremists”. The story of Billocca proves this. Described as an extremist at first by the opposition, they eventually had to listen to her and the 10,000 people behind her.