A PERIOD poverty campaign launched in memory of Pendle community activist Selina Cooper has made its first deliveries of free feminine hygiene products to schools.

The project’s volunteers have been busy packing and delivering gift boxes to high schools in the borough and will soon extend the service to primaries and food banks.

The Selina’s Gift campaign recalls the similar work of Ms Cooper to help mill girls in the 19th and early 20th centuries,

Campaign volunteer, Yvonne Tennant, said: “So many people are struggling to put food on the table.

“If you can’t afford food, then everything else is secondary and sanitary products are one of those things that individuals may not be able to afford and end up having to go without.

“We believe that no-one should suffer the social stigma and isolation of being unable to afford basic sanitary provisions.”

Margaret Mackenzie, Chair of the Pendle Community Momentum group who devised the campaign, said: “In the late 19th and early 20th century, Nelson community activist and suffragist Selina Cooper was having to do this very thing for the mill girls in Pendle. Over 100 years on, it is shameful that we still need to address this issue but, like Selina, we want women and girls to be afforded the dignity that they deserve.”

Schools and community groups who would like to receive a box of sanitary products from Selina’s Gift can email selinasgift@virginmedia.com