In a comment on the post below entitled 'Karen's Full Frontal Feminism Derided', Miriam asked to see the copy 'of Hon Alderman Eileen Kershaw's full letter' in last Saturday's Rochdale Observer:
Dear Editor,
'SO, you want to know what other women feel about Karen Danczuk's behaviour, particularly in view of the fact that she has sought office in the town as an elected representative on the borough council, a position which has always commanded and generally earned respect from the electorate, those people who voted for someone they thought had thorough decent values and motives whose main objective was to unfailingly serve, represent and respect the needs of the ordinary citizen...
'They were to be the leaders of the community,
impeccable in their conduct and an example to all at times in the way they
behaved.
'They were judged to be a “cut above the rest”
because of their commitment to serving the town and its people for very little
reward except earning the title of “councilor”, which once upon a time carried
a great deal of weight and prestige.
'Not any more it seems.
'Do and sat what you like under your civic
cloak. Make a mockery of the values that
the early pioneers of social endeavour and justice stood for.
'I think of the wonderful socialist women who
taught me the values of loyalty and hard work in the early sixties.
'Women who turned up religously night after night
to work and encourage yound people like myself, then in my twenties, who they
belived had an inherent right to discuss and make decisions alongside their
male colleagues, who were in those days so much a majority in the council
chamber.
'They campaigned for nursery education, better
working conditions in the mills and workshops, equal pay and equal rights for
all, good quality housing, particularly after the war and the right for all to
have a vote.
'I've stood on the market with them in, on one
occasion, 3-foot of snow collecting signatures for more nursery provision in
order that working mums may go out to work with peace of mind.
'They were proud, thoroughly respectable working women who sought no
personal reward. They simply worked
solidly for the community without feeling the need to expose their anatomy or
demean themselves for any reason or in anyway.
'They were always smart, some of them very
attractive, without it detracting from their behaviour, which was always
refined, genteel and articulate.
'They were generally assertive, sometimes bossy and occasionally
hard to please...
'Manners were impeccable. There was a strict code of dress and
behaviour when canvassing.
'Having been brought up the hard way by women of
this calibre is it any wonder that I'm known to be a tyrant with regard to to
dealing properly with Joe Public.
'It's got me through 50 years of public service,and to thank for it I have
people people who are now only memories, like Annie Taylor, Bertha Radcliffe,
Clara Gordon, May Kaufman, Alice Cholton, Florence Allcroft and Evelyn Thorton.
'They must now be turning in their graves at the
antics of Karen Danczu.
'Pack it in, Karen. She is a disgrace and a permanent insult to
all those intelligent women, industrious women who may be long gone but also
who will never be forgotten.
'This town can then get back to its orgins of
respectability and pioneering work for the sake of all who really care.
'Just don't stand for election again. The people deserve better.'
Hon. Alderman Eileen Kershaw.
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