Since 2014, Councillor Andrew Simcock has been leading the WoManchester Statue project to erect a statue of a woman of significance to Manchester. In 2016 it was announced that Emmeline Pankhurst, inspiring leader of the Suffragettes, was selected after a vote by over 5,000 people to be the subject of the first new statue of a woman there for over a century.

So I was delighted to make it into the final 6 shortlisted proposals for St Peter’s Square, Manchester. All six commissioned bronze maquettes – mine is titled ‘Rise up, women’ – were unveiled at the Houses of Parliament on the 27 February 2017, before going on show in Manchester.

You can imagine how thrilled I was to finally win this prestigious commission, with my background in promoting women’s rights and gender equality over many years. I won the public vote and was the unanimous choice of the selection panel – pheww.

With the help of 11-year old Fatima Shahid from Newall Green Primary School, planning permission was granted on the 8 February 2018, so all systems go.

A bronze edition of 12 of the maquettes were sold to raise funds for the main Our Emmeline statue. There is now a mini-version of the full-sized statue that was 3D scanned and made in a bronze edition (40cm) high with 10 percent of the sales price split between Manchester rights charities.

See section on the Emmeline Pankhurst Commission and my blogs about why we needed a statue of Emmeline, why I wanted to sculpt her and to follow the making of the clay maquette ready for casting in bronze, right through to the unveiling in Mancehster.