St Andrew's honour Enid Stacy, activist for social justice and women's rights

Rae Street (seated) with members of St Andrew's Mothers Union and their Enid Stacy banner. Left to right back: Pam Paterson, Jo Hill, Janice Halstead, Rev Rachel Battershell, Edna Burrow

A banner championing the work of Enid Stacy, a Victorian era activist for social justice and women's rights, will be proudly carried by St Andrew's, Dearnley, Mothers' Union when the Church of England's Manchester Diocese march in honour of the Suffragettes at a rally in Boggart Hole Clough on Saturday, 17 November.

Plans to join the rally in honour of Enid, who was married to the vicar of St James's, Calderbook and delivered her last public address in Rochdale in 1903, were finalised on Monday night when Rae Street was at St Andrew's to tell the Mothers' Union all about Enid's remarkable young life.

Enid Stacy died, aged 35, in 1903 after taking on the Establishment of the day, often single-handedly.

She is honoured by a blue plaque outside St James Church, Calderbook, Littleborough where she worshipped with her husband.

Rae Street said: "She never received the recognition she deserved. Maybe that was because she died so young."

After her talk, the vicar of St Andrew's, the Rev Rachel Battershell said: "What an inspirational story.

“Enid was clearly a remarkable young woman whose willingness to battle for what she believed to be justice and fair play for all was something to inspire us more than a century later."

The banner to be carried in the Boggart Hole Clough procession will carry these words:

"Enid Stacy, 1868-1903, Socialist, Feminist, Christian, wife of the vicar of Calderbrook."