VOLUNTEERS hoping to celebrate the release of a Hollywood film featuring Swindon suffragette Edith New are calling for donations to host a number of events.

Highworth-born Edith will be one of the leading characters – played by silver screen star Helena Bonham Carter – portrayed in director Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette this autumn, and to celebrate her legacy, Leah Bevan hopes to host a number of events across the town.

But while the guided walk, craft activities and displays will be delivered by volunteers, the group needs support to fund the necessary materials and have set up a Crowdfunder website to encourage people to get involved.

Leah said: “To celebrate the new film and raise Edith’s profile in her home town we are organising a number of events but we need your help.

“Events include: a free guided walk with local historian Frances Bevan around the areas of Swindon where Edith and her family lived and worked; an illustrated talk at the local library; a craft session with children making suffragette rosettes; a display in Cineworld Regent Circus foyer over the weekend which will then be made available to other local history groups for exhibitions and events; and a costumed rally at Regent Circus.

“Volunteers are giving their time organising and delivering the events but we do need some support to buy the materials we will use.

“The main costs will be for the information display boards and costumes and props such as banners to allow us to make a strong visual impact on our march through the town centre to the rally.

“We have already approached local history and theatre groups for in kind contributions and there has been a lot of support and interest already.”

Suffragette will feature a host of the world’s most well-respected actors including Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai.

and will chart the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement when women were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

Bonham Carter, famous for roles in Alice in Wonderland, Fight Club, Harry Potter, the King’s Speech and Planet of the Apes, will play the plucky Swindon heroine, born in 1877, who abandoned teaching in the 1900s to work as an organiser and campaigner for the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Local historian Frances Bevan said: “In 1908 Edith left teaching and became a paid organiser for the WSPU. She travelled the length and breadth of the country, organising by-election campaigns and addressing meetings and demonstrations.

“She served several terms of imprisonment, most famously for breaking windows at 10 Downing Street.”

People have until 5pm on September 28 to make a pledge.

To find out more about the Crowdfunder campaign or show your support, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/swindons-suffragette.

Suffragette will be released in the UK on October 7 during the London Film Festival.