Freedom of the city – Mary Clarke Statue Appeal https://maryclarkestatue.com Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:22:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 168102941 Mitchie Alexander’s Poem for Mary Clarke https://maryclarkestatue.com/uncategorized/mitchie-alexanders-poem-for-mary-clarke/ Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:21:19 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1883

This powerful and moving poem was written by Cllr Mitchie Alexander and read by her at a special meeting of Brighton &

Cllr Mitchie Alexander

Hove City Council on 14th December 2022. She read it in support of the motion to posthumously award Mary the Freedom of the City.

 Mary Clarke 1862-1910
The First Suffragette to die for the cause
“I wear my purple sleeves with pride,
You will see me, I will not hide.
 
We hear your boots on the cold stone floor ,
You tell us ‘eat’ , we say ‘no more’!
You tie us to chairs and ram tubes down our noses,
The mixture of bread, milk and brandy flood our lungs,
Instruments of your force rip our vocal cords.
We are dignified, we are loyal, we are pure , we are full of hope!
 
I wear my purple sleeves with pride,
You will see me, I will not hide.
 
We smash your windows to shatter your illusion that we are invisible,
We are not!
We are wise,
We are intelligent,
We have our own minds,
We do have a right to stand beside you !
 
I am your mother,
I am your daughter,
I am your sister,
I am your wife,
I am equal !
 
We will not give up the fight,
We will not surrender
Our strength of conviction may make our bodies frail,
Yet we do not break, you will not gag us.
 
Tied up to the chair is a bag of bones, held together with the might and the devotion of a woman on a missive to open your ears and hear what we say.
 
I wear my purple sleeves with pride,
You will see me, I will not hide.
 
You tower over us with your masculine strength and your deep tones,
Yet we do not stumble and fall,
We do not crumble and fade.
We will not give in , until you see me as your equal!
 
On Christmas Day your actions did stop the life flowing through my veins,
Yet the memory of me did not disappear
I did it for the women of today , of yesterday and of tomorrow.
I hear their voices singing ‘Thankyou Mary, Thankyou for your courage, your loyalty and your hope,
Thankyou for what you did and for who you are ,
You live on in us today’
 
I wear my purple sleeves with pride,
I did not die, I did not hide.
I wear my purple sleeves with pride ,
I stand with my sisters by my side,
We will be heard, we do not hide !”
Written by Mitchie Alexander December 2023
]]> 1883 Invitation to Award of Freedom of the City on 14 December https://maryclarkestatue.com/uncategorized/invitation-to-award-of-freedom-of-the-city-on-14-december/ Sat, 25 Nov 2023 09:30:27 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1839  

Briony Goulden

Mary Clarke is to be honoured by the posthumous award of the Freedom of the City, a wonderful tribute. The award is to be made at a special  meeting of Brighton & Hove City Council at 3.30pm on Thursday 14 December at Hove Town Hall.

Mary Clarke Statue Appeal Trustee Briony Goulden, and her two daughters Sophie and Lena, will receive the award on behalf of Mary. They are several times great nieces of Mary Clarke, who was born Mary Goulden.  We hope supporters will come along to cheer them all on.

Lena & Sophie

The meeting will take place at 3.30pm following an invitation-only reception for the Appeal at 2.30 hosted by the Mayor, Cllr Jackie O’Quinn. Councillors will make short speeches and Briony will respond. Child Ambassadors, including Sophie and Lena  and River Isaac, will be there. 

River Isaac will be accompanied by at least one other member of the Mary’s Lamp girls’ group, which she set up at Balfour School. River will be carrying Mary’s lamp, recalling Isabella McJKeown’s comment after Mary’s death that her friends and followers should “not mourn in silence” but “take up the torch and light the darkness”. We hope Isaac Abatan (21), our first Student Ambassador, will also be present to support the others. The Appeal Trustees will be there and our Patrons and Adult Ambassadors have been invited.

There will be photo opportunities in front of the large cut-out of the proposed statue. In addition to the lamp, we will also bring the resin maquette (the bronze one is too heavy to carry).  Provided we have someone to carry it, we will also bring our beautiful embroidered banner.

Though the reception is by invitation only, we hope other supporters will be there for the presentation. If you would like to attend, or know people who might like to do so, please let them know. Please be there for 3.15 pm, in good time for the start of the Council meeting at 3.30. You will have to sit in the gallery, but there is a good view and you can make some noise in appreciation! With luck, we may be able to meet for a hot drink in the downstairs  cafe after the event.

]]> 1839 Freedom of the City for Mary Clarke? https://maryclarkestatue.com/news/freedom-of-the-city-for-mary-clarke/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 16:03:00 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1818 Brighton & Hove News reports that Brighton & Hove City Council is to discuss a proposal to give Mary Clarke the Freedom of the City (see below).

Cllr Bella Sankey

The Chair of Trustees of the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal Jean Calder said: “This wonderful news. It is unusual for such an award to be considered for someone who is no longer alive, but it is an honour for Mary that we gratefully support.”

“We are thankful to Cllr Bella Sankey and her colleagues for this recognition of Mary’s courage and of her contribution to the struggle for women’s rights and universal suffrage.”

Women’s suffrage founder to be awarded freedom of the city

]]> 1818