Vale Rawlings CIC celebrates its first anniversary

This week (Feb 24) marks a year since the formation of The Vale Rawlings Project Community Interest Company by Elaine Pritchard and Will Walker. And what a year it has been! Elaine explains more.

I think it's fair to say that when Will and I decided to form a CIC, to raise awareness of Vale's story and raise money for two charities that were continuing the work he did in his lifetime, we could not imagine what would happen in just the first 12 months!

Why did we form a CIC? (I wondered that myself during the tortuous process of trying to open a bank account for it! Thank you Co-op Bank for understanding what a CIC was - when so many other banks had failed us - and giving us all the help we needed.) The reason was that very early on in our journey Unite the Union (WM Molson Coors) gave us some seed funding to kickstart our plans for a play and a book. We felt that it was important that all our incomings and outgoings were transparent and open to scrutiny. Forming a CIC seemed the best way to do this. We knew we didn't want to make any personal gain at all from the Vale Rawlings project, but we did want to raise money for two charities that we felt were continuing the work Vale had done in his lifetime. We chose YMCA Burton and SARAC (Sexual Abuse Rape Advice Centre).

Yesterday, Will and I marked our CIC's anniversary by a visit to The Vale Rawlings Room in Burton Town Hall. This was something we did not set out to achieve but are so proud that it happened in our first year.

Will Walker and Elaine Pritchard stand beside the door to the Vale Rawlings Room at Burton Town Hall.

Burton Town Hall was somewhere that Vale visited regularly during his time as an elected local councillor in the 1920s and 1930s. He also spoke from the stage a number of times. It was where we wanted to perform my play 'Strikers!' in December 2024 and were delighted that the council was able to help us make that happen.

Three days after the play was performed there was a meeting of the full council of East Staffordshire Borough Council. There, Councillor Paul Walker  proposed a motion to rename The Weaver Room at Burton Town Hall as The Vale Rawlings Room. Every councillor at that meeting, across all political parties, voted in favour.

A sign pointing the way to The Vale Rawlings Room at Burton Town Hall

What else has happened in our first 12 months of operating as a CIC?

Highlights of our year have included:

• Tracking down members of Vale's family who have generously supported the project with their time, their memories and the loan of precious photographs and documents to help with our project. To achieve this we received valuable help from Deborah Elliott, from Burton Library, and members of the Burton Family History Group. I was thrilled that some of them were able to attend 'Strikers!' and that Betty and Cathy (a granddaughter and a great granddaughter of Vale) sat with me in the public gallery at the town hall when the vote was taken to rename a room after Vale.

Elaine with the wreath for Vale and the flycatcher girls at The National Memorial Arboretum

• Laying a wreath in memory of Vale Rawlings and the 'flycatcher girls' at the April 2024 annual International Workers' Memorial Day service at The National Memorial Arboretum.

• Officially launching the whole project in May at The Brewhouse Arts Centre, where 11 actors read extracts from an early draft of 'Strikers!'. This was recorded by Burton Radio and later played out over the airwaves.

• Performing 'Strikers!' at Burton Town Hall in December 2024 and making £2,357.20 profit, which meant that YMCA Burton and SARAC each received cheques for £1,178.60 in January this year. The original 11 actors from May's launch all took part alongside 18 more performers. Some of these performers were experienced members of local community theatre groups while others had never performed on stage before (or at least not since primary school days). We were able to include everyone who wanted to be part of Vale's story and they delivered a powerful night of storytelling.

• Speaking at Burton Civic Society; Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Labour History Society and Etwall and Burnaston Local History Group about Vale's story. It is always so gratifying to see the reaction of people when they hear Vale's story for the first time. The most frequently asked question is 'How has this man been forgotten?' Well, we're not sure of the answer to that one, but after just 12 months we're a lot further along the road to putting him back in the hearts and minds of people in his home town.

  
  

  

  Elaine speaking at Etwall and Burnaston Local History Group

So what are we looking forward to in year two of our CIC?

The next BIG project is to write and publish a book about Vale's life and times. It will cover the years from the late 1880s to 1940 and explore the big events that shaped Burton during that period. These will include: the campaign for votes for women; changes for the town's working class and the local economy in the years leading up to World War One; the war itself and the introduction of conscription and military tribunals for those who were conscientious objectors; post-war regeneration in Burton and improvements to housing, roads and health and safety; unemployment, following the 1929 economic crash, and the outbreak of World War Two. The story of Vale and the Flycatcher Girls' strike - and his subsequent jailing - will of course feature prominently. All profits and Royalties will be split between our two nominated charities.

One of the four commemorative postcards from 1914 that we have reprinted thanks to Vale's family

I'm looking forward to more opportunities to speak to local groups about Vale's story. Several talks are booked in, but I'm always happy to hear from more groups looking for a speaker. I do not ask for a set speakers' fee, just a donation towards the CIC and the chance to take along the commemorative postcards issued in 1914, which we have had reprinted and which we sell for CIC funds.

We do have a film of the one-off performance of 'Strikers!' and I am currently exploring opportunities to screen it locally and raise more for the two charities.

Will and I will be at this year's International Workers' Memorial Day service at the National Memorial Arboretum on Monday April 28 and will lay a wreath again for Vale and the flycatcher girls.

And we can only guess at what other opportunities may arise which we haven't even imagined yet!

Our grateful thanks go to every person and every organisation that has donated, supported and encouraged us. It's been a real team effort.