Stroud Red Band performed outside the Sub Rooms on Saturday morning to mark last week’s International Women’s Day and also raise money for Stroud Women’s Refuge.
“For this occasion the Red Band formed a new Red Band choir, which is the first time we’ve performed and actually done any singing,” said band member, Sue Fenton.
“We played Bread and Roses and The March of the Women, both of which were well known tunes from the suffrage movement earlier in the last century.”
Collections at the performance raised more than £400 for Stroud Women’s Refuge.
“Stroud Women’s Refuge, I’m sad to tell you – well, I’m sad we need it – is the only women’s refuge for domestic abuse in the whole of Gloucestershire,” Andrea, a Friend of Stroud Women’s Refuge, told the audience.
“One in four of all women will experience domestic violence in their lives, and as a consequence, one in five children will be in a home with someone who has perpetrated domestic abuse.
“We know that even now, despite everything that is in the news, two women are being killed by a partner every week. Please help us keep our refuge open – it is only open, and stays open, because of the generosity of the people of Stroud.”
Pictures and video by Matt Bigwood
