Publisher's Synopsis
This is the story of how class solidarity translated into creative and radical local initiative, with fairness at its core, during the 1970s and 1980s. Contributors took the experience into their later work, lives and careers. Helen Jackson was one of them. The author's historical and political narrative merges with her own reflections as a woman in politics, so that we see how political action delivers change and understanding at an individual as well as a societal level. Focused on the local and regional, the memoir holds wider lessons for national and global politics. Valuing women's contribution to work, welfare and care in the community delivers sound economic results, especially when it is linked with ready access to lifelong learning through adult education.