A Durham councillor is bringing back a women’s gala in the city after a 40-year hiatus to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage.

The event was started by members of the labour movement who wanted to provide political education for newly enfranchised women. It ran from 1921-77 and attracted speakers including Barbara Castle, Nye Bevan and Clement Attlee.

Maura McKeon, who represents Coxhoe on Durham county council, said: “I was talking to my grandmother about the past and she was telling me about this event where she walked side by side with thousands of other women. The only gala I had ever heard about was the miner’s gala.

“After looking into it I realised there was in fact a women’s gala where thousands of women were shipped down in buses and came together in celebration. I thought it would be great to recreate the event.”

McKeon’s grandmother, Kitty Callan, carried a banner for Deneside women’s section and was integral to the organisation of past events.

The comeback gala will take place at Wharton Park on Saturday and will mark the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women the right to vote.

Speakers will include the Labour MPs Chi Onwurah, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Helen Goodman, Liz Twist and Sharon Hodgson.

Banners from Shildon, Stanley and Durham have been located and organisers hope more will be found before the event. A project has been set up to create new ones.

McKeon said: “It’s a way of celebrating 100 years since some women were given the vote and all that has been achieved in that time. But we also want to look forward to the next 100 years and think about the areas women still haven’t broken into and where the struggles are.”