The subject of our last meeting was ‘Women Standing Still’! (This referred to statues, in case you wonder.) Though statues of women have been rarely erected in the past, nowadays more are going up. We noted that recently Gracie Fields has been honoured in Rochdale, and there are plans for a statue of Victoria Wood.
Other statues that members had researched included St. Ethelreda, Boadicea and one dedicated to Sheffield female steelworkers. However, one member’s favourite monument was the national war memorial erected to celebrate the Women of World War II, close to the Cenotaph in London. Most of us had never noticed this impressive structure, which shows 17 different outfits worn by women undertaking war work, hung up as if after use.
