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| The five shortlisted statues |
The name of the
successful sculptor chosen to create the statue of Mary Barbour will be
announced from the stage of the Gala Concert scheduled for this Sunday, 21 February in Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket,
the Remember Mary Barbour Association (RMBA) said today.
Maria Fyfe,
Chair of the Remember Mary Barbour Association said. “This
concert is a part of raising the funds to commission the statue, so it seemed
only right to announce the successful candidate here. At long last there will be a new statue
of a woman of achievement - achievement not for herself but for the people of
Glasgow. This concert will be both a celebration of the statues and of Mary’s life
and work.”
In
addition to the stars already announced, prominent Scottish actress Libby McArthur has joined the guest
list to add drama to the variety of the concert. She will be delivering a
speech from Julia Taudevin’s play, Mrs
Barbour’s Daughters.
Compering the
show is comedian and presenter, Susan
Morrison, and the performers will include folk legends, Sheena Wellington, and Arthur Johnstone, rising singer and
musician Siobhan Miller, Scottish
legends The Whistlebinkies, Gaelic
singing star, Maeve Mackinnon, harmonica
supremo, Fraser Speirs, and
folk-rock recording artists, The Wakes. A
local Govan-based community choir – the Govan
Allsorts, will bring Mary’s community centre stage!
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| Susan Morrison |
Compere, Susan
Morrison said “Too
often we look at history and see the word hero linked only to men who did
things in wars of dubious morality The women who stood with Mary fought for
something greater. They fought for fairness, for justice and for their
communities. They were kitchen table heroes and that is worth celebrating, to
inspire a new generation of women to continue the fight.”
In addition to the maquettes of the statues, a new portrait has been painted of Mary Barbour, by Govan artist Daniel Fitzpatrick. He has donated the powerful and striking portrait to the RMBA. The portrait depicts her steely determination but also captures her warmth and compassion, and a series of limited edition signed prints are being created for sale - hopefully in time for the concert!!
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| Mary Barbour by Daniel Fitzpatrick |
Mary Barbour led the successful rent strike of 1915 and went
on to play a leading role in the labour movement as a Glasgow Councillor and
energetic social reformer. Following an extensive campaign to have her
contribution recognised, five sculptors were shortlisted to create a statue of
her to be placed in her community of Govan. So far each has created a maquette
of a proposed statue . These were unveiled in November and have been toured
across Glasgow for people to express their opinion. See them on the Facebook
page here.
Details of the Gala
Concert are as follows
Remember Mary
Barbour Gala Concert , Sunday 21 February, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 7.30pm, Tickets:
£25, from the Glasgow Concert Halls box office. http://www.glasgowconcerthalls.com/Pages/home.aspx# 0141 353
8000. For further information - www. remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com/ and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RememberMaryBarbour/
