AG百家乐在线官网

A 7ft-high statue commemorating Alice Hawkins, a shoe factory machinist who fought for women's right to vote, has been unveiled in Leicester.

The statue stands close to where Alice addressed the crowds during the height of the Suffragette movement. One of her descendants, Kate Barratt, tells Sky News she is glad that history is finally recognising her great-great grandmother.

Suffragettes were not upper class feminists with time on their hands, but fearless mavericks who brought together women (and men) from all economic and social backgrounds.

One of those women was my great-great grandmother, Leicester Suffragette leader, Alice Hawkins.

Alice used to say "you must use your vote, we suffered for it".

She was a working class mother of six and wife to Alfred - her biggest supporters - and a force to be reckoned with.

Not afraid of fighting the hard fight, she knew that votes for women meant the route to better pay and working conditions for all working women, who often did the same jobs as the men.

The Pankhurst family, Emily, Sylvia, Christobel and Adele, were very charismatic leaders of the movement and knew how to court the media with high-profile campaigns of the day.

Alice, on the other hand, represents the rank and file working class who worked long hours in the factories yet found the strength and resolve to campaign against the women's injustice.

The Pankhurst sisters gave Alice strong and continued support in forming and running the Leicester branch of the Suffragette movement, and we have the letters to Alice from Emily Pankhurst to prove it. After all, there were many women just like Alice in the movement, but only the Pankhursts lead it.

Answering a small newspaper feature in the early 1990s, my late grandmother contacted a mature student at Leicester University, Dr Richard Whitmore, who was studying the Suffragette movement in the city and whose thesis proved to be a goldmine of information.

Together with the family's stories of Alice and her original suffrage memorabilia, could finally be told.

Since then my dad, Peter Barratt, has to many interest groups, raising Alice's profile in Leicester and beyond.

In 2013 dad spoke with the Leicester council about designing and erecting a statue of Alice in Leicester city centre's market place to represent the 'good fight' the women put up, against all odds.

Even Ramsey MacDonald, Alice's local MP, could not escape her vexing persistence and the two exchanged many heated letters on the topic.

Alice's husband Alfred was another force to be reckoned with.

At public meetings, he heckled Winston Churchill on the matter with the aim of shaking up the establishment who wanted the women to simply 'go away'.

Fast forward to 2012, my family realised that Alice did not even have a headstone on her grave. She was the last of six to be buried in the plot (known as a 'pauper's grave') so we held a small event to commemorate her and erected a headstone in her memory.

And now this year, a statue of her will represent all the women, men and ethnic minorities who endured much pain and suffering to gain the rights we have today.

I'll use this event to celebrate Alice's feisty approach to life, fighting for what she believed in and never taking 'no' for an answer. Often we say that we "don't have time" to do the simplest things.

Whether it's committing a few hours a month to charitable work, talking to a lonely elder, or even just putting down our phones to acknowledge people face-to-face.

But despite working long hours in factories, Alice made time to right the wrongs that she felt passionate about, and to travel all over the UK doing it.

I would encourage you to use your vote at all elections - it's a privilege.

And if you don't like the policies that politicians present today, then make time to create your own.