It is 1915 and you are eighteen years old. Every day you risk injury and even death from explosions, poisonous chemicals and dangerous machines. You are not on the battle field, you work in a munitions factory.
‘The Canary Cage’ follows a group of Munitionettes and their football team, through the years of the First World War.
Working at the factory gives these girls from the back-to-backs the chance to earn their independence for the first time; but life can be harsh on the streets of the city. Friendships formed on the factory floor and the football field become strained, as each girl finds she has tough choices to make and her own battles to fight. This is the story of their losses and joys, the men they fall in love with and the futures they try to build for themselves.
To find out more about Women’s football in the 1st World War, take a look at these facts presented by the Imperial War Museum.
© IWM. Women munitions workers’ football team from the AEC Munitions Factory at Beckton, London.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205124205
Samantha Sandys - Author 