MORE than 100 people took part in a night walk in Penzance on Tuesday, November 25, to highlight the issue of violence against women and girls.

Now in its fifth year, the town’s annual Solidarity Walk and Vigil organised by West Cornwall Women’s Aid is part of the global campaign 16 Days of Activism, which aims to raise awareness and inspire action against gender-based violence.

The walk marked the start of a programme of events, supported by £3,775.95 in grant funding from Penzance Council. It was held on White Ribbon Day, when men are encouraged to show their year-long commitment to ending violence against women and girls.

“We must keep doing this, although it's really sad that we have to,” said Cornwall councillor Thalia Marrington, addressing a large crowd at Wherrytown car park.

“It's nearly 50 years since the first Reclaim the Night march in 1977, and that was because of the high-profile murders that happened then. Women were told that they should adjust their behaviour, that they shouldn’t go out at night.

“Nearly 50 years later, it's still a little bit like that. We're being told how to be safe, to carry our keys in our hands, all these sorts of things.

“But I do think things are changing, and I really believe there are better partnerships now.”

Carrying banners and candle lights, the crowd made its way along the promenade, joined by firefighters from Penzance Community Fire Station and representatives from Devon and Cornwall Police, A Band of Brothers and the Cornish Pirates. St Michael’s Mount was illuminated in the Suffragette colours of purple and green in support.

Stopping briefly in front of Jubilee Pool, Penzance mayor Cllr Stephen Reynolds said: “We stand together so our town, our Duchy, our country and our world will be a safer place for women and girls. This movement has grown here and it is spreading.”

The Solidarity Walk continued onto St Mary’s Church on Chapel Street, where a candlelit vigil took place. West Cornwall Women's Aid chief executive Lizzie Matthews added: "Let me be clear; violence against women and girls is not just bruises and broken bones. It's coercion. It’s control. It's sexual abuse. It’s rape. It's silence. And far too often, it's fatal.

“Here in Cornwall, the crisis is growing. In the year leading up to May 2024, over 1,700 sexual offences were reported. That's an average of more than 30 incidents every week being reported, and what we know is that most people don't report. Domestic abuse reports now exceed 10,000 annually. So that's nearly 200 every single week in our community.

“We all need to act to end abuse. I think, if we act together, we will become unstoppable.”

The names of women who lost their lives at the hands of someone they know in the past 12 months were read aloud in tribute, before a performance by the Big Dance Company and the screening of a film by the Cornish Pirates.