This International Women’s Day, a remarkable Preston woman who fought strongly for women’s rights was commemorated with a blue plaque in Winckley Square Gardens.
The special event took place in the building used as an office for recruitment business Service Care Solutions, which was once suffragist Beatrice Todd’s home in the 20th century.
In the afternoon (Wednesday 8 March), Preston Mayor, Cllr Neil Darby, was surrounded by spectators at the front of the building during a countdown for the unveiling of the plaque commissioned by the Friends of Winckley Square.
Earlier, member of Preston Historical Society, Patricia Harrison, had brought to public attention that there are only four blue plaques in Preston awarded to women compared to the 30 and more granted to men.
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In an opening speech Preston Mayor echoed this issue and said: “There are so many blue plaques around Preston that often celebrate old white men, and they’re all worth remembering and are part of our history, but then so are women.”
“It’s good that we are addressing the imbalance, we’ve had Avice Pimblett last year and today we’ve got Beatrice Todd.”
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After the plaque was unveiled, people went inside the building to catch sight of the ‘Women of Winckley Square’ exhibition, which held informational poster boards of the remarkable women of Preston including Beatrice Todd and Edith Rigby.
Senior Marketing Executive of Service Care Solutions told Blog Preston, how the business reached out to Patricia from PHS, in order to learn more about Winckley Square and the building’s heritage.
In doing so they have managed to raise awareness on women’s history and their struggle for equality.
This week also coincides with the business turning 18 years old.
Lauren Turner said: “To know that there’s only 14 per cent of plaques that are dedicated to women and we are in that small minority is one of the proudest moments for us.
“Patricia was in the building this morning delivering the talk on Beatrice, her achievements, what she did, women’s rights in general and just educating our staff because they were all really interested.”
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Lauren continued: “Sometimes history gets lost a little and we are bringing that back to life; we’ve got the exhibition here now, on the top floor for a couple of weeks for people to come as they please.”
“Everyone who has come today, all external guests, they can relish Beatrice Todd’s achievements with us. It is a very proud moment to have the plaque on the building.”
Students of Penwortham Primary school raised money through donations to help FoWS and Preston Historical Society raise the profile of Preston women and were given praise during the event.
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Young historian Sophie, who is now in secondary school told Blog Preston how it was fun but also ‘really meaningful’ to help women by raising money.
She took part in a school project focusing on the legacy the suffragette movement left on her generation.
Helen Hesketh, Head of Penwortham Primary School, said: “It’s lovely to have so many different aspects of the community together, for somebody who at the time could’ve easily been forgotten.”
Chair of Service Care Solutions, Richard Freye, said: “I’m quite shocked by what Beatrice went through at that time of her life.
“Difficulties and the challenges that she faced that I find difficult to comprehend in society today, but then I’m also so thankful that she did and I don’t think that journey on equality ever stops.
“I think it’s really important that we recognise and celebrate what Beatrice did and that’s what that blue plaque does outside, it is a permanent marker of what that person did and the sacrifices she took.”
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Will you be going to the exhibition? Let us know in the comments below.