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2023-03-31-accounts

Mary Clarke Statue Appeal

Trustees’ Annual Report

1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023

General Information :

Charity name: Mary Clarke Statue Appeal

Charity registration number: 1185845

Charity Address: c/o The Regency Townhouse, 13 Brunswick Square, Hove BN3 1EH

Email address: jeancalder.mcsa@gmail.com

Website: maryclarkestatue.com

Date of charitable registration: 16th October 2019.

Charitable Objects:

To advance art and education for the benefit of the public by the provision of a sculpture of suffragette Mary Clarke in Brighton. To advance the education of the public about the role of the suffragettes in furthering electoral reform and equal rights for women by the provision of the statue, information and exhibitions.

Our Work :

We are working to erect a statue of suffragette Mary Clarke in Brighton as a symbol of democracy and women’s rights. We provide talks, information and exhibitions, all with the aim of raising awareness of the suffragettes’ role in furthering democracy and equal rights for women. We work with the city council, women’s and community groups, schools, businesses and trade unions. We have all-party support.

Trustees :

Our trustees have remained unchanged since registration on 16th October 2019 and all were re-appointed for a further three years at a trustees meeting on 24th September 2022. They are:

Our initial four trustees sprang from the core group which was formally set up in November 2018 with the aim of achieving a statue for Mary Clarke. Three were co-directors of For

Our Daughters , a local women’s rights campaign which played a key role in setting up the Appeal. One was co-founder and Secretary of the Brighton & Hove Women's History Group. The fourth was a descendant of Mary Clarke. Most importantly, all four trustees had a firm commitment to raise public awareness of the local suffragette struggle along with the principles of women’s rights, equality and democracy.

Recruitment of New Trustees:

New trustees can be appointed for a term of three years by resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. All trustees serve for three years in the first instance, though retiring trustees are eligible for re-appointment, up to a maximum of three consecutive terms.

History of the Appeal :

The idea of a statue for Mary Clarke was first proposed in early 2018, the centenary of the first women achieving the vote, in a newspaper article by Jean Calder which highlighted the need to commemorate the forgotten suffragettes of Brighton & Hove. Initial campaigning and fundraising was undertaken in the name of For Our Daughters , a local women’s rights campaign and was actively supported by the Brighton & Hove Women’s History Group.

We were conscious that other cities were already well ahead of Brighton & Hove in their centenary plans to commemorate suffragettes, but we worked with Brighton Museum to attempt to remedy this. An initial attempt to fund the statue and associated activities in Brighton Museum by means of a joint bid (by For Our Daughters working with Brighton & Hove City Council) for Government Suffrage Centenary funding failed, but provided valuable experience.

The Appeal was formally set up on 18th November 2018, the anniversary of Black Friday, the days when, in 1910, Mary Clarke almost certainly received the injuries which eventually led to her death.

The small committee focussed its attention on raising community awareness of Mary’s life and working to achieve all party political support. We were grateful to receive the unanimous support of the City Council and to have been able to appoint Patrons from all locally represented political parties, including three local Members of Parliament, from Brighton, Hove and Lewes. We also gained the early support of Deputy Lieutenant Juliet Smith J.P. and Baroness Joyce Gould.

We undertook a great deal of research into potential sculptors and types of design. While we did so we focussed our initial fundraising efforts on start up costs. We wanted:

We were grateful to an anonymous donor who kick-started fundraising, in the very early days, and to a second anonymous donor who directly funded the initial website and publicity materials and video. We were also grateful for the generous support in 2019 of the then leaders of all three political parties in the Council, who kindly offered grant aid of £10,000 to help fund the bronze and resin maquettes.

In the Autumn of 2019, having examined several excellent submissions from possible sculptors, we commissioned renowned Stoke-based sculptor Denise Dutton to design our statue and to work on a maquette of the proposed statue (undertaking to sculpt the final statue when funds become available). On 16th October 2019, we achieved charitable status as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

Volunteers

The Appeal has no paid staff. Everyone involved is a volunteer. Apart from the Trustees, Patrons and Ambassadors, there is a core group of approximately twenty volunteers who continue to assist the work of the Appeal.

Patrons and Ambassadors to 2022/23

We are grateful for the support of our distinguished Patrons and Ambassadors and our young Child and Youth Ambassadors.

Our Patrons are:

Our Ambassadors are:

Child/Youth Ambassadors:

Activities and Achievements in 2022/23

In 2022/23 our fundraising continued to be hard hit by the aftermath of the COVID lockdown and the cost of living crisis. We focussed on raising awareness and community engagement, building alliances wherever we could.

We have continued to publicise the Appeal, and the issues it champions, in any way we can, for example, by means of radio and television interviews and displays in the Jubilee Library, as well linking Mary to guided walks and having a stall at community venues, for example in the forecourt of the Pavilion Gardens cafe and at Balfour School's summer fair. We have displayed the bronze maquette of Mary in secure settings such as the library and used our less valuable resin maquette in public and open air events. We have continued to publish material in local publications and media.

Our banner, designed to the dimensions of banners carried by suffragettes, and embroidered by Jenny Engledow (now one of our Ambassadors), has been on display in the main City Library. We also acquired a six foot cut-out, in addition to the seven foot cutout acquired last year, both made to the design of the proposed statue, which we are able to display at indoor and outdoor events, such as stalls in the Pavilion Gardens and International Women’s Day celebrations. They draw a great deal of attention wherever they are displayed and many adults and children ask for a "photo with Mary".

The Chair of Trustees Jean Calder gave two major talks on behalf of the Appeal. The first was at the Jubilee Library in November 2022, arranged to mark the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (and the 16 Days of Activism that follow). The second was a lecture at The Dome in March 2023, during Women's History Month. Attendance at both events exceeded capacity for the venues.

We have continued to work with children of school age (never alone but always in the presence and under the supervision of parents or teachers) and are grateful for their active support and at various events. Our Child Ambassadors, supported by their parents, have led fundraising and awareness raising efforts in a variety of different settings.

Two of our Child Ambassadors, Izzie and Sophia Kilburn, used their birthdays as a fundraising opportunity, asking loved ones to make donations to the Appeal in lieu of presents. These seasoned young campaigners had previously fundraised so successfully for a blue plaque for the pioneering women lawyer Helena Normanton, that they achieved a substantial surplus. They kindly donated that surplus to the Appeal.

The “Mary’s Lamp” girls’ group at Balfour Junior School was set up by River Isaac, our first Child Ambassador, inspired by Isabella McKeown's words after Mary's death. She said that the suffragettes should not mourn Mary in silence but "..take the torch and light the darkness...". The Mary's Lamp group continues to flourish, working to fundraise and share information amongst fellow primary students. The group is full and has a waiting list of children who wish to join. River and the other girls worked with teachers to prepare a PowerPoint presentation in May 2022, which they delivered to the whole school. They also worked with us to organise a stall at the school's summer fair, running a very successful competition and cake sale (of 'Mary Cakes'), while leafleting parents. They managed to raise awareness and raise funds at the same time, for example, by making and then selling orange ribbons in November, explaining that they were doing so as part of the UN 16 Days of Activism End Violence Against Women and Girls (the UN-designated colour is orange). We continue to discuss ways of developing learning materials for use by children and teachers, but without funding have been unable to progress this.

We are grateful for the support of our City Council and of our wonderful patrons and ambassadors as well as a range of different community organisations and amenity

societies. Special thanks are due to Simon Fanshawe who has been an inspiration. Also our sculptor Denise Dutton, who continues to offer valuable advice and, this year, with her partner Richard, fashioned a safe light-weight model lamp, similar to the lamp proposed for the statue, for use by child campaigners. Our thanks too: to local historian Marion Bance who published a piece about Mary Clarke in the community magazine Preston Pages; to the many journalists and media representatives who have promoted our work; to the Jubilee Library for hosting our talk and regularly allowing us to display our maquette and banner; to The Dome for inviting us to lecture on the suffrage movement and its links with the Dome estate; to Brighton & Hove Women's History Group for their unfailing support; to Phil Blume and volunteers of the Regency Town House for their invaluable advice and support; and to David Sewell of the Pavilion Gardens Cafe, for allowing us to distribute leaflets and run stalls on the Forecourt. We are so grateful to all of them.

We continue to liaise with the Royal Pavilion and Museum Trust, which is responsible for the management of the Royal Pavilion Estate. The Trust continues to have concerns about our proposed site for the statue and this remains a major topic of discussion. Notwithstanding this, political and community support is for the siting of the statue in the Pavilion Gardens is comprehensive.

While we have considered various alternative sites, our preferred site, close to the Museum entrance, remains the ideal option because it is a safe, accessible position which is passed by every school party attending the museum, as well as almost all visitors and adult residents. We continue to wish to make an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund but would like to do this with the support of the Royal Pavilion and Museum Trust.

Current Plans (2023/24):

Mary Clarke Statue Appeal: Income and Expenditure 2022/23

Income 2021-22 2021-22 2022-23 2022-23
Local Giving £
2,497.72		 £
975.24
PayPal £
195.42		 £ 1,202.23
Donations £
1,030.00		 £
920.31
Talk £
150.00
£
3,723.14		 £
3,247.78
Expenditure
Maquette Cut-out and Base £
194.00
Website £
616.56		 £
457.52
Leafet Design £
120.00
Local Giving £
96.00		 £
96.00
Banner £
30.00
Booking Fees, misc expenses etc. £
515.50
Audit and Tax Fees £
300.00
£
1,056.56		 £
1,369.02
Surplus / (Defcit) £
2,666.58		 £
1,878.76
Balance Sheet
Balance Brought Forward £ 14,650.43 £ 17,317.01
Income £
3,723.14		 £
3,247.78
Expenditure £
1,056.56		 £
1,369.02
Balance Carried Forward £ 17,317.01 £ 19,195.77
Represented by
Cash in Hand £
0.00		 £
0.00
Cash in Bank £ 17,317.01 £ 19,195.77
December 2023