The Mighty Women of Buckingham

Last Thursday, Julie and I had the enormous pleasure of attending the opening of the 'Mighty Women' exhibition at the Old Gaol. (It is still on - do go and see!) This has been put together by Lauren Hutton and her colleagues to honour and celebrate the achievements of local women over the ages. You can find out more from this link. 

And one of the featured women is Professor Edwards who is working with the Town Council on the joint TC/Uni Pontio Group. I never knew all this about her!

Here is the short speech I gave to welcome the exhibition to the town:

I am going to say only a very few words to offer my support and praise to this exhibition and give my sincere thanks to all those who have made it possible. I am reminded of a quote:

"Continue to speak out against all forms of injustice to yourselves and others, and you will set a mighty example for your children and for future generations" (Bernice King)

Everyone here is a leader in some way - as a parent, or as a manager, or as an artist, or as a politician or as an active member of our Buckingham Community or whatever. We all have a responsibility to show girls and boys, what it means to be mighty. 

And being mighty for me, means helping oneself and others shape dreams and then use our abilities to make those ambitions come true.  

And because we live in an unfair world: where people of colour like Ms King and her father, where women, where people with disabilities and many others are discriminated against we should always look to take positive action to bring more fairness to the world. So that all people, regardless of who or what they are, get to dream dreams and make all their ambitions happen. 

So this exhibition is just positively fantastic because by celebrating the mighty women of Buckingham, this show shines a brilliant light on how these women have helped make Buckingham the town that it now is.  

And may this light, continue to shine and glow for all the girls and women in the town so that they too can feel empowered to add their spirit, their imagination, their energy and their light to this wonderful place.