Great celebration of the life of Barbara Castle & launch of the blue plaque at New College Pontefract this afternoon where she went to school in the 1920s when it was Pontefract Girls High.
Barbara was fierce, formidable & fantastic – and it was great to be able to pay tribute to her & to hear today’s students describe what an inspirational figure she was.
First elected as a Labour MP in 1945, Barbara later brought in the Equal Pay Act to stop women being paid less than men for the same work, and as Transport Secretary she brought in seat belts & breathalysers – undoubtedly saving so many lives through the years. All her life she fought against injustice and her politics was rooted in her experience of the poverty of the 1920s miners strike here in Yorkshire.
Thank you to Pontefract Civic Society for organising the blue plaque and for celebrating Pontefract’s history with pride.