Dorchester Sheroes give talk to Wey Valley Academy

Year 10 English students at Wey Valley Academy in Weymouth were given a talk by the campaigners from Dorchester Sheroes.

The talk concerned the campaign for the county town to install a bronze sculpture of an unsung woman from history who has links with the area.

Giving the talk was Tabitha Schofield, Nicole Brugger, and Anya Pearson, with the latter involved in the Mary Anning Rocks project in Lyme Regis.

Anya Pearson started off the presentation to the students by stating that '85 per cent of statues in the United Kingdom are of men'.

The project for a statue in Dorchester is keen to involve men, women and everyone within the community to promote the visibility and representation to an unsung 'shero.' The shortlist for the sheroes' campaign was narrowed down to six earlier this month. 

During the session the students then had to vote on their favourite 'shero' from the shortlist.

One student said: “This was extremely empowering to be involved in this talk today - the visibility of women and their achievements is so critical for us as students to aspire to our role-models - it shows us that we can achieve anything with hard work and determination.”

Mark Chutter, Head of Performing Arts and Teaching and Learning Challenge Lead, said: “My thanks to the Dorchester Sheroes for arousing the intellectual curiosity of our students here at Wey Valley and for engaging the school community in this innovative project."

The project has now shortlisted six female sheroes from history for the statue. The list includes writer Sylvia Townsend Warner, the radical reformer Mary Mullet Moule from Fordington who worked tirelessly with the poor during the cholera epidemic of the 1850s. The Dorset Button Makers who were a group of women who provided economic freedom for countless working-class women. Aileen Chevallier Preston of Higher Bockhampton, who was the first woman to receive her RAC driving licence and became Emmeline Pankhurst's chauffeur.  

Other sheroes on the shortlist include Sarah Eldridge who was one of the founders of Eldridge Pope and Anne Keates/Winzer, who was a nurse from Fordington who helped patients during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.