In Praise of Women: International Women's Day

From entertainers Gracie Fields to indomitable women such as Ailse O Fussers and wisewomen like Nell Racker today we celebrate International Women's Day by highlighting the unique contribution of women on the history of the Borough. In our Local History Online pages of the Link4Life website we have included information on Women At Work, Women of the Borough. At London 2012 our Olympic medal winners were the following the sporting heritage of Sybil Fenton 'Queenie' Newall who was born at Hare Hill, Littleborough on 17th October 1854.She was the eldest daughter of the ten children of Henry Newall and his wife Maria Fenton. Her maternal grandfather, John Fenton was elected Liberal member of parliament for Rochdale in 1832 and was a friend of John Bright and Richard Cobden. Queenie Newall never married and moved to Cheltenham to live with her sister Margaret in 1905. In this year they joined the Cheltenham Archers Club and soon Queenie began to make a name for herself. In 1907 she won four of the five regional archery meetings thus qualifying for the 1908 Olympic Games, which took place in London.The archery contest was held in the White City Stadium on the 20th and 21st July with dreadful weather conditions on the first day. On the second day the weather improved and Queenie soon took the lead winning the gold medal by a clear 43 points. At the age of 53 years 275 days  Queenie was the oldest woman to have won an Olympic medal. This record still stands today. Queenie continued competing after the First World War, her last recorded score being with the Cheltenham Archers in September 1928. She died at her home in Cheltenham on the 24th June 1929.