ACTRESS Maxine Peake will attend the unveiling of the magnificent statue of Oldham suffragette Annie Kenney next month, exactly 100 years since women voted for the first time.

Campaign backer Maxine will be joined by Springhead-born Amy Gavin who played Annie - who also hailed from the village - in the BBC's How Women Won the Vote with Lucy Worsley, artist Stan Chow, who designed limited edition prints of the former millworker to help raise cash to fund the statue, and members of Annie's extended family.

The unveiling, at 2.15pm on December 14, will be the culmination of two years hard work and fundraising, overseen by Oldham West and Royton MP, Jim McMahon, who, as chair of the Annie Kenney Memorial Fund has campaigned alongside supporters to realise the fitting tribute to Annie who was at the forefront of the suffragette movement.

The honour will be given to children from St Thomas’ School, in Lees, due to the work they have done telling Annie’s story throughout the year.

The statue commemorates Annie’s role in extending the rights of women in Britain and will be unveiled on the same day as a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst is revealed for the first time in St Peter's Square, Manchester.

The event is being organised by the director of Oldham Theatre Workshop in conjunction with Oldham’s Town Centre Management team.

A march has been organised to Parliament Square which will be headed by a brass band and will be represented by many organisations from Oldham including trade unions, local businesses, schools, community organisations, and local residents.

Everyone is invited to attend and join in the celebration as the borough finally pays fitting tribute to aAnnie who was the first woman to be arrested for direct action alongside Christabel Pankhurst, one of the most vociferous members of the Suffragette movement.

She was the only working-class woman and suffragette to reach the top of the Women’s Social and Political Union hierarchy.

Jim McMahon, local MP and Chair of the Annie Kenney Memorial Fund, said: “Annie’s unveiling marks the apex of two years of hard work, dedication and positivity from local residents and organisers.

"It goes to show what we can achieve for Oldham when we work together, which is why we want as many local residents as possible to head down to the Old Town Hall on the day.

“The unveiling will be a big day in itself. But the most inspiring thing for me is the thought of Annie’s presence once again in the town centre, telling her story and inspiring future generations.”

The public is invited to meet at Gallery Oldham ahead of the unveilling to join the parade to Parliament Square.

The occasion will also serve as the borough's contribution to a nationwide celebration of women being given the first vote in the 1918 general election.

Annie was born in1879 to a relatively poor family and 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 in 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.

But residents felt her historic actions and the sacrifices she made to secure universal suffrage deserved greater recognition with supporters launching an on-going campaign to erected a statue in the town centre.