INSPIRED by the European Championship-winning Lionesses, occasional Nub News coumnist and chair of Thurrock Historical Society, Susan Yates, has been seeking out the borough's own leading ladies....

-----------

ON 30 July 1966 England men made history winning the football World Cup. 

On 31 July 2022 England Ladies made history winning the Euros, beating Germany 2 1 in front of more than 87,000 fans at Wembley.

Their names will now become etched in the memory like 'the boys of '66'. 

This was an amazing feat when you consider that ladies' football was illegal up to 1971 all because Dick Kerr ladies played St Helens Ladies at Goodison Park (Everton FC's ground) on Boxing Day 1920 in front of a crowd of 53,000. 

The proceeds of the match went to charity but the Football Association was afraid that this might take money away from the men's game and they declared it was quite unsuitable for females to play the beautiful game and as of 5 December 1921 it was banned. 

The ban lasted half a century during which time no ladies could use a pitch which belonged to a club registered with the FA.

It was illegal for ladies to play on the same pitch as men i.e. West Ham Ladies could not play at Upton Park nor Arsenal ladies at Highbury etc. 

This has now changed and, thanks to the Lionesses, girls everywhere are signing up with local clubs to play. 

East Thurrock United have reported an amazing increase in numbers of young ladies wanting to join them for the new season. 

Let us hope that the likes of Aveley FC and Grays Athletic FC encourage future lionesses to join them too.

This made me think of the Thurrock ladies who have left their mark on history.

The first name to come to mind is Fatima Whitbread MBE.

Fatima Whitbread.

Fatima was born on 3rd March 1961 in Stoke Newington to Turkish Cypriot mother ad Greek Cypriot father and adopted by Margaret Whitbread a javelin coach in Thurrock. Throwing the javelin she broke the world record with a throw of 77.44 metres in qualifying for the European Athletic Championships in Stuttgart in 1986, which she went on to win a year later. 

She won two Olympic medals, the first a bronze in 1984 and silver in 1988. She was voted the Sports Writers' Association Sportswoman of the Year for 1986 and 1987, and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1987.

She received the MBE in the 1987 Birthday Honours, for services to athletics.

And while her athletics heroics remain in perpetuity, Fatima reached a whole new fanbase in 2011 when she took part in '"I'm a celebrity, get Me Out of Here" and came third.

Another Thurrock lady who was not a sportswoman, but a fitness guru was Eileen Fowler, who lived at Horndon on the Hill.

Born Eileen Philippa Rose Fowler on 13 May 1906 in Tottenham she trained as an actress and dancer. She became famous for her fitness programmes on TV and radio in the sixties and seventies. Many a housewife of that time swung her legs holding on to the back of a chair in time with Eileen on her TV show. 

With the catchphrase "Down with a bounce; with a bounce, come up" she introduced fun into exercise.

In World War II she worked for the Central Council of Physical Recreation to improve the fitness of workers as she toured around the country conducting group physical training sessions. 

In February 1945 she married. After several years the CCPR again employed her and together with 200 women she provided a show at the 1959 FA Cup final. In 1975, she was awarded an MBE. She remained fit into her 90s and would insist on displaying her suppleness to other residents at her retirement home. She died, aged 93, on 7 March 2000 in Colchester. 

Alice Diehl was a concert pianist and novelist born in Aveley. Born Alice Mangold on 25 February 1844 she was the daughter of Carl and Eliza Mangold and the grand-daughter of the village doctor Charles Vidal. 

She performed first as a concert pianist in Paris in 1863 becoming a novelist in 1872 writing over 50 books. Alice Diehl died on 13th June 1912 and a

Alice Diehl.

Last but most definitely not least, was Thurrock's own Florence Nightingale, Kate Evelyn Luard. Born on 29 June 1872 at Aveley one of 13 children of the Rev Bixby Garnham Luard and his wife Clara Isabella Sandford Bramston Luard. 

Kate worked as a tutor to raise the funds to pay or her training as a nurse. She trained at King's College Hospital London. She served for two years in the Anglo Boer war and joined the Queen Alexander Imperial Military Nursing Reserve Service two days after the declaration of World War I at the age of 42. 

Kate Evelyn Luard.

She was twice mentioned in dispatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field and awarded the rare distinction of the Royal Red Cross medal 1st class and bar like Florence Nightingale. Kate is also commemorated by a Thurrock Green Heritage plaque unveiled on 30 September 2019.

Who knows? When the Lionesses have their next great success, it could include a future Thurrock legend.