On 7th April, we launched a post-pandemic appeal we are naming RaiseMary1000, which was inspired by writer Peter James, our newest Patron. We have received many hundreds of smaller donations, but only a few larger ones. Just recently we were grateful to receive two separate donations of £1,000, one of which was from Peter. It occurred to us that if we could identify just thirty five people to…
Thank you to ITV Meridian News and Charlotte Wilkins for their coverage this weekend of the wonderful fundraising efforts of Izzy and Sophia Kilburn, our most recently appointed Junior Ambassadors. If you haven’t already seen it, please take a moment to watch the film. You can find the link below. As we reported earlier, the twins have been fundraising to erect blue plaques in Brighton, to…
Twins Izzy and Sophia Kilburn are our two most recent Child Ambassadors. They recently celebrated their 13th birthday and very generously, asked family and friends to consider a donation to the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal instead of birthday presents. They raised a hugely impressive £95. We are so grateful to the girls and their parents and hope they had a wonderful birthday. The twins are,…
We are pleased to announce that 12 year old twin sisters Isabel (Izzy) and Sophia Kilburn have become our most recent Child Ambassadors. They live in Ovingdean and attend Brighton College Prep School. The girls love music and are accomplished young sportswomen. Izzy focusses on hockey, while Sophia prefers netball and, in particular, cricket. Sophia plays cricket for the Brighton College boys first team. The…
Our Appeal has attracted widespread community backing and has the cross party support of the City Council. It has a number of prominent Patrons, whose support we are immensely proud and honoured to call our own. However, we think our most recent Patron is probably the most famous. We are delighted that the best selling author Peter James has agreed to serve as a Patron…
Denise Dutton, our wonderful sculptor, has offered to make a very limited edition of duplicate bronze maquettes available to major donors who give £6,000 or more to the Appeal. She has generously offered to do this at cost, so apart from foundry and delivery charges, all profits will go to the Appeal. This is an amazing offer from Denise who is internationally known and in…
March is Women’s History Month and the 8th March is International Women’s Day. Jenny Engledow, well known local peace campaigner and an extremely accomplished embroiderer has just completed a banner depicting Mary Clarke. The suffragettes’ processions were central to their campaigning. They used fantastic costumes, flowers, horses, choirs and bands, and above all, beautifully coloured banners, to wonderful effect. Many banners were designed to be carried…
It seems that Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary and Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary plans to back a proposal from the Common Sense Group of Conservative M.P.s that local authorities erect (and fund) civic statues to all holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross (Daily Telegraph 24th January 2021). Admirable and worthy as these individuals are, they are almost exclusively male and in the…
The Daily Telegraph reported (24th January 2021) that Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary and Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary plan to back a proposal from the Common Sense Group of Conservative M.P.s that local authorities erect (and fund) statues to all holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross. It didn’t take long for women’s organisations to point out that such a scheme would exclude women.…
BBC South East Today broadcast a special report today (10th February 2021) about Mary, the “forgotten suffragette”. BBC’s Chrissie Ready interviewed Jean Calder and Briony Goulden from the Appeal and and Terri Bell-Halliwell from inVISIBLEwomen. Terri’s organisation campaigns for more statues and memorials for women. She has been a huge support to the Appeal. Watch from 15 minutes https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000s6t1/south-east-today-evening-news-10022021