The Bradshaw family from Kent, who spent much of 2013 in the headlines with their campaign to get the country to buy British, are now keen to locate the 5 women that inspired their campaign.
In 1968 five Surbiton secretaries influenced the nation to say “I’m backing Britain”. Valerie White, Joan Southwell, Carol Ann Fry, Christine French and Brenda Mumford made a gesture to work an extra 30 unpaid minutes each day in the ventilation factory in which they worked. This simple act caused the country, for the briefest of moments, to come together and to support the UK’s domestic industry. The resulting campaign snowballed, sweeping through the UK and generating support of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, a mass of Union Flag merchandise and even a hit record by Bruce Forsyth!
50 years later and the Bradshaw family, James (35), Emily (30) and son Lucan (3) tried to ignite a similar level of patriotic outpouring to support Britain’s long-troubled manufacturing sector. While they failed to get Brucey back into a recording studio, their efforts to live on only British goods were widely covered in the national press and regularly drew parallels with the efforts of these young office workers.
The Bradshaws efforts have continued since the successful conclusion to their 12 month challenge earlier this year. They have been heavily involved in the roll-out of the new Made in Britain marque, organised the British Family Fayre celebration in Kent and are about to launch a charity that promotes careers in manufacturing to young people. However, they are now keen to locate the 5 young women that inspired them to try to get the country backing Britain once again.
Have you seen these women?
“These ladies inspired a nation and it felt to us like we experienced a small part of the maelstrom that they must have been a part of. We would love to catch up with some, or if possible all, of these ladies and see how their campaign affected their lives and whether they have any advice on how we can continue to grow this movement toward re-investing in the future of Britain’s manufacturing” says Emily.
Where do you start looking for 5 ladies who are are now likely to be in their 60’s or 70’s. “There is a lot of contemporary press about their campaign but very little about the women themselves. Our first port of call is social media. We have been seeing if Facebook or Twitter could produce any leads to these women but so far nothing” says James.
If you have any information that could help the Bradshaw’s track down these nearly forgotten heroines please get in touch through their blog www.britishfamily.co.uk.
Press release distributed on the 26th June 2014 – for immediate distribution
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