A hard won right

What the vote means to me

1974 was an exciting year in British politics, with two General Elections.

I wasn’t old enough to vote, but the second fell on my 15th birthday – so I remember well having a day off school! From that day onwards I couldn’t wait to be 18 and to vote. In the 1979 General Election I exercised with great pride this democratic right, so hard-won for women by our brave and visionary fore-mothers. The result may not have been the one I wanted… but that hasn’t put me off voting at every opportunity since.