Poppy Collier
Dame Millicent Garret Fawcett: Wish you were here
I sit here today by your statue in parliament square. Lots of people come to visit (you’re almost as popular as Winston Churchill). Your likeness looks out over Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It’s all boarded up with scaffolding. They say the walls are crumbling. I think that’s kind of funny when you consider today’s politics. I wonder what you’d think?
The square is full of people. It’s full most of the time these days. I see their banners and plaques letting people know what they believe in and what wrong they want to put right. This is what you paved the way for. I wish you could see it.
You tirelessly campaigned to secure the vote for women – 61 years. You didn’t give up. You must have known you were fighting for something much bigger. You used your words. You didn’t stop, even when people said you were wasting your time. You used your voice to give others the right to use theirs. You gave us freedom.
And, as I watch these people follow in your footsteps. Using their right to stand up for what they believe in. Trying to right a wrong. I think of your words, “courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied.”
It’s clear that your courage still calls on today.