The Headscarf Revolutionaries: Lillian Bilocca and the Hull Triple-Trawler Disaster

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Lillian Bilocca became an international celebrity. The lone survivor of the tragedies made headlines too. In a tight fishing community, it's dangerous to stand out. Upon their return to Hull, Lillian told the press and the crowds it was the ‘happiest day of her life’. “We’ve done it!” she said. But the family were called to the rest home in the early hours of Sunday, April 24 where Blenkinsop had passed away. Now that a film and TV production company has bought the rights to the book by Dr Brian Lavery, the determination of those ordinary women from Hull is set to make it to the big screen. The story of the Hessle Roaders who took their fight all the way to the corridors of power in Parliament deserves to be known throughout the UK. For too long, the achievement of the women, like the city in which they lived, has been overlooked. Dr Lavery should be congratulated for telling their story in such a gripping way and his achievement in securing the interests of the production company is to be celebrated.

Sole survivor Harry Eddom recovering in an Icelandic hospital after his 36-hour fight for survival.Indeed, while Prescott, who had some involvement with the campaign as a young trade unionist, may be keen to celebrate what the women achieved, their rebellion had more in common with Danbert from Chumbawamba dowsing Prescott with water at the Brit Awards than it did with facilitating the banking crisis or invading Iraq.

The women had taken their campaign to Westminster and forced rapid changes to the trawling industry after a meeting with Board of Trade minister Joseph Mallalieu and fisheries minister Fred Peart. The BBC broadcast a documentary entitled "Hull's Headscarf Heroes" in February 2018, to mark fifty years since the loss of the three trawlers. [14] Maxine Peake has written a play entitled The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca which opened in Hull in November 2017. An earlier play by Val Holmes, who grew up in Hull at the time of the tragedy, was entitled Lil. [4] The Red Production Company is working on a TV drama adaptation of Lil's actions during and after the tragedy. [4]

Upon the four women’s return to Hull, Denness told the waiting press: “We have achieved more in six weeks than the politicians and trade unions have in years.” Good news for Rita Eddom, with her little brother, reading about Harry’s survival – papers had dubbed her the ‘36-hour widow’. a b "Actress honours safety fighter Big Lil". BBC News. 31 August 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2017. Bilocca has been described as a national figure and a local folk hero. [2] She was commemorated by a Hull City Council plaque in Hessle Road in 1990 that reads "In recognition of the contributions to the fishing industry by the women of Hessle Road, led by Lillian Bilocca, who successfully campaigned for better safety measures following the loss of three Hull trawlers in 1968"; another plaque in her honour is at the Hull Maritime Museum. [13] A mural on Hull's Anlaby Road painted by Mark Ervine and Kev Largey depicts Bilocca and her connections with the "headscarf revolutionaries" and the triple trawler tragedy. [11]

News Headscarf Revolutionaries immortalised as Porter Street flats renamed to honour the women who changed life at seaShe combined a career as a singer alongside being a married mother of four. She toured the country as Yvonne — the golden girl with the golden voice. But at the exit, there were thousands waiting and cheering. A newspaper billboard read: ‘Big Lil Hits Town’. Christine Smallbone, the sister of the Ross Cleveland skipper Philip Gay, had met with the managers of Hellyer Bros., the ship’s owners, on the morning of the 5 th. Lavery’s book records her impression of the firm’s offices: ‘“Look at this big room, beautiful big polished oak or walnut table…really really big…beautiful carpets…that’s how the trawler owners live…nice…comfortable”’. The extent to which the trawler owners’ profits were prioritised over the safety of the trawlermen, some of whom were as young as 14, was no secret in Hull. But with the British media gripped by the story of the missing trawlers, the Headscarf Revolutionaries made it a national issue.