A DINNER has raised more than £1,000 towards a statue of Oldham-born suffragette Annie Kenney.

The event, attended by Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon took place at the Blue Tiffin restaurant and was supplemented by a re-enactment by children from St Thomaw Leesfield Primary School in Lees, the area which Annie lived.

The children had been learning about her life and what she and the suffragettes achieved 100 years ago.

Money raised by a crowdfunding campaign will be spent on a sculpture by Denise Dutton which will stand outside Oldham’s refurbished Old Town Hall.

It is a site particularly suitable as it was once the site whereby Winston Churchill addressed residents of Oldham.

This is fitting as Annie was wrongly arrested for protesting for women’s right to vote in front of Churchill in Manchester years before they succeeded.

Mr McMahon said: “The Annie Kenney Project is more than a statue, although that’s important. We want to tell the story of our town and local people who achieved incredible things. It’s inspiring to see school children learning about Annie Kenney and retelling her story.

“I’d like to say to a huge thank you to local schools, residents and businesses who have supported the project so far.”

Annie Kenney was born in what is now the borough of Oldham in 1879, to a relatively poor family. She was one of 12 children. She started work in a local cotton mill at the age of 10 and became actively involved in the trade union whilst working there. Her political activity attracted the attention of the press and the public in 1905 because, during a Liberal rally in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, she and Christabel Pankhurst interrupted a political meeting to ask Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey if they believed women should have the right to vote. Both women were arrested and later imprisoned for allegedly causing an obstruction.

Due to her commitment to the cause Annie was imprisoned a total of 13 times yet when war broke out she travelled the country with other senior members of the WSPU encouraging women and trade unions to support the war work.

Annie died on the July 9 1953 aged 73 and Oldham Council erected a blue plaque in her honour at Lees Brook Mill, Oldham, where she first started work as a young child. Local people, however ,feel the plaque is not enough and want to erect a statue in the centre of Oldham to recognise the work she did and the sacrifices she made to secure universal suffrage.