AN all star gala concert is to be held in Glasgow to raise funds for a statue in honour of working class hero Mary Barbour.
The concert will feature some of Scotland's leading performers and is taking place on February 21 at the Old Fruitmarket. Names will be announced in the New Year.
Mary, who lived in Govan, led the Glasgow rent strikes of 1915, which forced a change in the law to curtail profiteering landlords.
She is widely regarded as one of the most important social reformers of the last century and was one of Glasgow's first female councillors.
The Evening Times first revealed plans, led by former MP Maria Fyfe, to create a statue in her honour. Football legend Alex Ferguson was among the celebrity patrons of the campaign.
There was anger last month after a funding application was turned down by Creative Scotland.
Despite already securing almost £56,000 of donations - half the money needed for a permanent sculpture in Glasgow - the Remember Mary Barbour Association’s (RMBA) request for funds was rejected by the Scottish arts body because of an apparent lack of community engagement.
The group needs just £110,000 to pay for a permanent statue to the campaigner and has shortlisted five sculptors, whose maquettes or scale models, are currently touring the community and been put on display in Govan - which was Barbour's home.
It is hoped February's gala concert will help plug the funding gap.
Maria Fyfe, Chair of the Remember Mary Barbour Association said. “We’ve planned this major concert to celebrate Mary’s life and work.
"It is part of our continuing campaign to create an appropriate tribute to one of Glasgow’s greatest heroes.
"Following the unveiling of the five statue maquettes, we are busy circulating them, ensuring as many people as possible get the chance to have their say. They’ll be on show at the concert.
“We have been fundraising for just over a year now and are more than halfway to our target of £110,000. So we’ve asked Fairpley to put together this concert. It will be simultaneously a major method of raising the funds to fill the gap, a huge public display of support for this project and, of course, a great night out!”
The Glasgow rent strikes took place at the height of World War One, with 20,000 people taking to the streets in protest against profiteering landlords.
The mobilisation of Barbour's Army saw thousands of women march alongside shipyard and engineering workers to protest at the prosecution in Glasgow's small debt court of 18 tenants for non-payment of a rent increase.
The campaign attracted ministerial intervention, the cases were dismissed and the Rent Restriction Act was enacted, heralding a change in Glasgow's housing system.
Post-war, Ms Barbour maintained her vision and determination to deliver better policies for women and children across the city.
Tickets for the gala concert, priced £25, are available from Glasgow Concert Halls box office. 0141 353 8000
For more information go to www. remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com/ and /www.facebook.com/RememberMaryBarbour/
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here