Visit to Hawick Opera

On 13^th March a party of Rotarians made what has become their annual visit to Hawick Amateur Operatic Society's show at Hawick Town Hall. This year's production was 'Made in Dagenham', the story of the strike led by women at the Ford Dagenham Works. On 7 June, 1968 after a pay regrade that saw sewing machinists classed as “unskilled labour”,187 of those machinists – all women – decided to walk out. This was the catalyst for the passing of the Equal Pay Act of 1870.

The story was told in dialogue, song and dance. The show was slickly produced and comment was made by members on the quality of the choreography and on the performances on stage, both by the principals (led by Katie Rudkin and Alexander Edwards in the lead roles of Rita and Eddie O'Grady) and by the ensemble.

Such visits as this and as the College visit last week add variety to our programme. The group very much enjoyed their cultural outing, as being different from their normal weekly meetings.