These four women took on trawler bosses and the establishment and won, making the world’s most dangerous profession — deep sea trawling — safer by far. Today, the phrase I coined for my book title, the Headscarf Revolutionaries, has become shorthand for these brave campaigners. On the day the book was launched in 2015, four plaques were unveiled by the Lord Mayor in Hull Maritime Museum to commemorate their campaign.

Skipper Len Whur was Lillian’s fiercest critic, accusing her of putting jobs at risk and ‘interfering in something she knew nowt about’. Now that a film and TV production company has bought the rights to the book by Dr Brian Lavery, the determination of those ordinary women from Hull is set to make it to the big screen. The story of the Hessle Roaders who took their fight all the way to the corridors of power in Parliament deserves to be known throughout the UK. For too long, the achievement of the women, like the city in which they lived, has been overlooked. Dr Lavery should be congratulated for telling their story in such a gripping way and his achievement in securing the interests of the production company is to be celebrated.But at the exit, there were thousands waiting and cheering. A newspaper billboard read: ‘Big Lil Hits Town’.

For decades, that remained the only tribute to these remarkable women, whose fight for better safety at sea saved countless lives, then and since. Outside of Hull their story was forgotten – a footnote in maritime history.

In 1968 three trawlers from Hull, the Kingston Peridot, St Romanus and Ross Cleveland, sank within days of each other in storms off Iceland, killing 58 men. The revolutionaries of the Hessle Road Women’s Committee showed the power of grassroots campaigns. The women had no political experience, all being regular people from a regular city. They affected change at the highest level of government in a matter of weeks.

The women had led one of the biggest and most successful civil disobedience campaigns of the 20th century.Not only did she play a key role in one of the most successful civil disobedience campaigns of the 20th century but she also spent her life ensuring that the legacy of that campaign would not be forgotten. For me, it was an honour to know Blenkinsop and to tell her story. She was brave, funny, direct and unfailingly cheerful. She had been ill for a few years but always made supreme efforts when asked to appear in public. This was the first of three tragedies to strike the Hull fishing industry in the coming weeks. The Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland would soon follow in the disastrous footsteps of the previous tragedy.

Lillian Bilocca became an international celebrity. The lone survivor of the tragedies made headlines too. In a tight fishing community, it's dangerous to stand out. In 1968 three trawlers from Hull, the Kingston Peridot, St Romanus and Ross Cleveland, sank within days of each other in storms off Iceland, killing 58 men. When news of the second sinking reached Hull, Lillian Bilocca, whose husband and son worked on trawlers, began a campaign that became international news and completely overhauled safety standards on British trawlers. A compelling and detailed account by local author and historian Brian Lavery of ordinary women changing history. This is a powerful book that gives full voice to the grief and determination of the women who fought trawler owners and forced them to put men s lives before profit. IN what became known as the dark winter of 1968, four working-class women from Hull were cast into the eye of a storm the aftermath of which would save countless lives — but at great personal cost.

Recently, local heritage campaigner Ian Cuthbert’s Headscarf Pride group had lobbied to get Blenkinsop recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He is also campaigning for a statue to be built to the women.