Life-sized suffragette made of Lego to tour Weston next week

From Monday (August 22), the life-sized Lego model, named Hope, will go on display at the Town Hall Library, on Walliscote Grove Road, for three weeks.

Hope stands at 1.7 metres tall and took three people 171 hours to build, using 32,327 Lego bricks.

The model was commissioned by Parliament in 2018 and stood in the House of Commons before touring the UK as part of the 100-year celebration of the 1918 Representation of the People Act.

It will also continue to tour as part of the 1928 Representation of the People Act celebration which permitted women over the age of 21, and regardless of property ownership, the right to vote.

Visitors to Weston Library will be able to explore local stories of the suffragette movement in an exhibition of records usually held in the North Somerset Local Studies Library.

People are being encouraged to tag North Somerset Libraries into their social media posts and use the official campaign hashtag #StandWithHope, when taking selfies with the model.

North Somerset Council's executive member for neighbourhoods and community services, Cllr Mike Solomon, said: "It’s fantastic that Weston Library was successful in bidding to host Hope as part of this national initiative.

"It will give people of all ages the opportunity to discover more about the right to vote and the history of our county’s democracy.

"I encourage people to pop into the library to learn more about this important topic and have some fun at the same time - it’s a brilliant free activity for families during the school summer holidays."

Hope will feature as part of Weston’s Heritage Open Days programme between September 9 to 18.

The library is also running a summer reading challenge during the summer holidays to encourage children to keep reading over the school holidays.

As well as this the library will host Lego activities for families on August 27 and September 3, between 10am and 2pm.

Hope will be on display from August 22 to September 12.