...And Oldham statue pays tribute to Annie Kenney

HUGE crowds turned out to see the statue of Oldham’s home-grown suffragette Annie Kenney unveiled.

The public reveal of at Parliament Square marked the centenary of the first women who were able to vote in a general election.

Hundreds of people, including Oldham MPs, actor Maxine Peake, schoolchildren and activists, marched with banners and a brass band through the town ahead of the unveiling. The bronze statue by sculptor Denise Dutton depicts the former mill worker wearing a ‘Votes for Women’ sash, ringing a bell.

A working-class woman from a poor background, Kenney helped spearhead the campaign for universal suffrage. Kenney great grand-niece, Eleanor Roberts was one of many of the Kenney family descendants present at the unveiling. She told the crowds women continue to fight their battle.

“There are still women on hunger strike today at Yarl’s Wood detention centre and we all need to be aware of these issues as women, and men need to be there to support us,” she said.