Organisers confirm Women’s March will take place in Hartlepool this weekend

Organiser Ele Doherty, 18, has said she is “absolutely looking forward” to the event on Saturday, January 22.

The care worker said: "It’s quite crazy, to be honest. There has been a lot of women who’ve reached out and shared their stories with me.

"It was absolutely amazing to see that a lot of women do get where I’m coming from and they want to be a part of it. There are some really brave women out there. “

Ele decided to organise the march at the end of last year after reading about Bobbi-Anne McLeod, 18, whose body was discovered on November 23 after she disappeared in Plymouth three days earlier on her way to meet with friends.

Speaking to the Mail back in November, Ele said it had affected her “a lot”.

She said at the time:"I am a woman walking late at night and I don’t feel safe, and we have to be aware in the daytime.

"I just feel like the march will be something positive and will hopefully have some sort of impact.

"I just feel like it will be a beautiful thing to do for all these women, who never made it home.”

The event comes as the deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa ignited concerns about the safety of women last year.

Ele has said that all women share concerns around their safety.

She said: "I hope that women know that we are all in this together. You can always reach out to a woman and she will understand.”

"It’s not something that we should share in common, but we all have that fear in common, because some of us have been through some very traumatic things and some of us are fortunate enough not to have gotten through these things, but we understand what it would be like to go through it.

She added: "We should all feel safe.”

The march is inclusive and Ele has said men are also welcome to take part.

It will start at 3pm from the Victory Square War Memorial.

Updates about the event are available on the Change and Positivity Facebook group.

Support your Mail and become a subscriber today.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of our news and sport, see fewer ads, experience faster load times, test your brain with daily puzzles and get access to exclusive newsletters.

Your support for our journalism means we can continue telling Hartlepool’s stories for generations to come. Click here to subscribe - and click here to get a snapshot of the Mail’s news and sport to your inbox through our email newsletters.