## **Mary Clarke Statue Appeal** ## **Trustees’ Annual Report** ## **1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025** ## **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. ## **Activities** : 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 during the year under review. They are: - Margaret Flora Jean Calder (Chair) - Terri Bell-Halliwell - Kathryn Margaret Patricia Henderson - Andrew David Winter (Treasurer) Trustees are committed to raise awareness of local suffrage history, along with the principles of women’s rights, equality and democracy. ## **Recruitment of New Trustees:** Trustees are 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. The three year period of office of three trustees, Jean Calder, Kathy Henderson and Andy Winter will expire in October 2025. All three have expressed a willingness to continue as trustees. ## **Patrons and Ambassadors 2024/25** We are very grateful for the support of our excellent Patrons and Ambassadors. Following the 2024 general election, former Members of Parliament Maria Caulfield and Caroline Lucas stood down. We thank them very much for their years of support. Patrons during the year under review were: - Maria Caulfield (part year) - Elizabeth Crawford - Simon Fanshawe - Professor Julie Gottlieb - Baroness Joyce Gould of Potternewton - Peter Kyle M.P. - Peter James, Author - Caroline Lucas (part year) - Professor June Purvis - Juliette Olsworth-Peter J.P., D.L. - The Venerable Martin Lloyd Williams, Archdeacon of Brighton, Hove and Lewes Note: Following the year under review, in May 2025, Baroness Jenny Jones of Moulsecoomb was appointed as a Patron to replace Caroline Lucas. More recently, in November 2025 the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne OBE, was appointed Patron, replacing Maria Caulfield. We are very grateful to them both. Ambassadors: - Howard Spencer (Heritage) - Isaac Abatan (Student) Young Ambassadors: - Lena Goulden - Sylvie Goulden - River Isaac - Isabel Kilburn - Sophia Kilburn ## **Volunteers** The Appeal continued to have no paid staff, with everyone involved a volunteer. Apart from the trustees, patrons and ambassadors and young volunteers, there is a core group of around twelve adult volunteers who continue to assist the work of the Appeal. We are very grateful to all of them. ## **Early History:** The idea of a statue for Mary Clarke was first proposed by one of our trustees in early 2018, the centenary of the first women achieving the vote, in a newspaper article calling for the forgotten suffragettes of Brighton & Hove to be commemorated. Initial campaigning and fundraising was undertaken in the name of _For Our Daughters_ , a local women’s rights campaign (no longer operational) and was actively supported by the newly formed Brighton & Hove Women’s History Group. At that time other cities were already well ahead of Brighton & Hove in their centenary plans to commemorate suffragettes. An initial attempt to fund the statue and associated activities in Brighton Museum by means of a joint bid for Government Suffrage Centenary funding (led by _For Our Daughters_ supported by the City Council) failed. However, it provided valuable experience. The Appeal was formally set up on 18th November 2018, the anniversary of Black Friday, the day when, in 1910, Mary Clarke almost certainly received the injuries which eventually led to her death. The small committee focussed its attention on raising public awareness of Mary’s life and working to achieve community and all party political support. We were grateful to receive early and unanimous support from the City Council and to be able to appoint many prominent people as Patrons, including representatives from all local political parties. We undertook a great deal of research into potential sculptors and types of design, while focussing our fundraising efforts on start up costs.We were grateful to early donors who directly funded the initial website and publicity materials, also to the then leaders of all three political parties in the Council, who granted £10,000 to help fund the maquette. 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. She has produced a bronze maquette of the proposed statue (now displayed in the Jubilee Library) and when funds are available, will sculpt the final statue. On 16th October 2019, we achieved charitable status as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). ## **Activities 2020-2024** Like all charities our fundraising was hard hit by the COVID lockdown and subsequent economic strains. We focussed on raising awareness and community engagement, building alliances wherever we could. We campaigned for a site within the Pavilion Gardens, near the entrance to the Museum, where every school party would see it. There was widespread support for this option, but unfortunately this was not shared by the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, because of its commitment to reinstating the Regency design of the gardens, or Historic England. Our application to the Heritage Lottery Grant failed, possibly for this reason. We continued to publicise the Appeal by means of radio and television interviews and displays in the Jubilee Library, as well as linking Mary to guided walks and having stalls at community venues. We displayed the bronze maquette of Mary in secure settings such as the library and used the far less valuable resin maquette in public and open air events and at schools. We continued to publish material in local publications and media. We also displayed our beautiful banner, embroidered and made to the dimensions of the pennant banners carried by suffragettes, which has been displayed in the library. We also acquired two 'cut outs' made to the design and size of the proposed statue which we displayed at indoor events. We continued to work with children and young people of school age (never alone but always in the presence and under the supervision of parents or teachers). Our Child and Youth Ambassadors, supported by their parents and other young volunteers, helped us raise issues at the City Council, were interviewed on television and helped fundraise and raise awareness in a variety of ways. The Child Ambassadors' contribution was recognised by the Council along with that of a ‘Mary’s Lamp’ girls’ group set up by a girl student at a local primary school. This wonderful group worked to both fundraise and raise awareness amongst fellow primary students. ## **Activities 2024/25:** Over the past year we have continued fundraising activities and community engagement, raising public awareness, working with young people, and making the links between the Mary’s life and work and present day campaigns for girls’ and women’s equality and safety. The Jubilee Library allowed us to hire a cabinet in their foyer to display the bronze maquette of Mary and information about her life. This is the first time the maquette has had a secure longer term 'home' and we are very grateful for this. We held stalls for the Appeal at the Open Market in London Road, Brighton, where we publicised the campaign, provided information and raised funds. We are so grateful to the management of the Market for allowing us the use of a stall without charge. We prepared an Arts Council bid in the hope that if we succeeded in that we could try again for a heritage Lottery Grant. In the event it was submitted in May 2025 and fell at the first hurdle. We were not granted permission to apply. We are very conscious that the costs of producing the statue (especially the foundry costs) are increasing all the time. We are grateful to the sculptor, Denise Dutton, for holding her fees steady. We are also keen to have the statue in place in time for the 2028 centenary of all women achieving the vote. In the light of these considerations, we reached the conclusion that we should reconsider the site of the proposed statue. After detailed discussion with councillors and council officers, heritage planners and highways engineers, as well as key trusts and local businesses, our trustees reached the decision to propose a different site. This is a site on New Road, directly opposite the Theatre Royal. It is close to the Pavilion Gardens, but not within them. Crucially, this proposal has the support of the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust and the Theatre Royal, as well as The Dome & Festival Trust. We have engaged with businesses in New Road. None have objected and several have expressed support for the proposal as part of a wider regeneration of the street. ## **Current Plans and Activities:** In the current financial year we have published an updated version of the booklet on Mary Clarke, taking into account the change of proposed site. We have also submitted a planning application for the site in New Road. Given the importance to the city of erecting the statue before the 2028 centenary of universal suffrage, we have asked for City Council assistance. We are applying for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding. We have warned that without it we will remain reliant on private fundraising and may well not meet the 2028 deadline. Nonetheless we are determined to achieve the statue. We are confident that it will become an important symbol of women's rights and equality, freedom and democracy and will also attract tourists and students from across the country and abroad. In October we participated in the FiLiA International Women's Conference at the Brighton Centre. We had the privilege of speaking at the opening session and ran a stall all weekend. We received an enthusiastic response from women visiting from across the world from Japan to Germany, India to Italy, Scotland to Wales and the South West of England. Most promised to visit Brighton again "when the statue goes up". We plan fundraising events in the new year and additional funding bids, including a further application for Heritage Lottery Funding. ## **Mary Clarke Statue Appeal Balance Sheet 2024/25** |**Income**||**2024-25**||**2023-24**| |---|---|---|---|---| |Local Giving|£
1,650.17|||£
84.80| |PayPal|£
97.20|||£
693.73| |Open Market stalls|£
52.85|||£
0.00| |Donations / Collections|£
200.00|||£
343.66| |||**£**
**2,000.22**||**£**
**1,122.19**| |||||| |**Expenditure**||||| |Website|£
291.65|||£
279.02| |Local Giving|£
180.00|||£
180.00| |Booking fees, Cut Out, etc|£
102.80|||£
298.11| |Miscellaneous|£
35.77|||£
33.00| |Audit and Tax Fees|£
0.00|||£
0.00| |||**£**
**610.22**||**£**
**790.13**| |||||| |**Surplus / (Defcit)**||**£**
**1,390.00**||**£**
**332.06**| |||||| |||||| |||||| |**Balance Sheet**||||| |Balance Brought Forward||£
19,527.83||£
19,195.77| |Income||£
2,000.22||£
1,122.19| |Expenditure||£
610.22||£
790.13| |**Balance Carried Forward**||**£**
**20,917.83**||**£**
**19,527.83**| |||||| |Represented by:||||| |Cash in Hand||£
0.00||£
0.00| |Cash in Bank||£
20,917.83||£
19,195.77| |||||| |||||| |||||| |**23/09/2025**||||| Note: As at 31st March 2025, £20,917.83 was held as cash in the bank. As at 1st December 2025 £25,930.64 was held in the bank.