THE creators of a new statue celebrating Newport suffragette Lady Rhondda are looking for the next generation of inspirational women to be recognised on the monument.

And this is your chance to nominate a female community champion who deserves to be celebrated for her work helping others.

The statue of Lady Rhondda is going to include a ring of hands cast from real women in Newport, so that they become an integral, lasting part of the monument.

To assist fundraising for the statue, Monumental Welsh Women has given local businesses the chance to donate and nominate a woman to have their hand cast in bronze.

Rather than select someone from their own organisation, The Celtic Collection has teamed up with the South Wales Argus to offer you the chance to put forward an inspirational woman who deserves to be recognised.

South Wales Argus: The unveiling of a blue plaque adjacent to the post box that Lady Rhondda blew up in 1913 as part of the campaign for Womens Suffrage.The unveiling of a blue plaque adjacent to the post box that Lady Rhondda blew up in 1913 as part of the campaign for Womens Suffrage.

Do you know a brilliant woman who works tirelessly for the community? One who puts others before themselves? Or one who triumphs over adversity?

If so, we would love to hear from you. The closing date for entries is August 31, 2023, when we will pick the entrant we judge the most worthy of inclusion among the ring of hands.

The nominated winner will then be invited to have her hand cast in bronze by the sculptor creating the statue, Jane Robbins. The process will only take a few minutes.

Who was Lady Rhondda?

Lady Rhondda – Margaret Haig Thomas – was a suffragette, businesswoman, a journalist and editor, and lifelong campaigner for women’s equality.

Raised at Llanwern House just outside Newport, she was jailed for setting fire to a postbox as part of the suffragette movement and survived the sinking of RMS Lusitania during the First World War.

South Wales Argus: The post box on Risca Road that Lady Rhondda blew up in 1913 as part of the campaign for Womens Suffrage.The post box on Risca Road that Lady Rhondda blew up in 1913 as part of the campaign for Womens Suffrage.

Her 40 year campaign for female peers resulted in women being able to sit in the House of Lords, however she died before the law was changed, meaning she was never able to take her own seat.

Her statue is the fourth to be commissioned by the Monumental Welsh Women project to celebrate the achievements of Wales’s hidden heroines – women whose contributions to Welsh life and culture have been largely overlooked because of the era in which they were born.

The first, commemorating the extraordinary life of Wales’s first black headteacher, Betty Campbell, was unveiled in Cardiff in September 2021, and subsequent projects have honoured Elaine Morgan in Mountain Ash and Cranogwen in Llangrannog. The finished Lady Rhondda statue is set to be unveiled in Newport in 2024.

Go to www.southwalesargus.co.uk/my/ccn/assignment/DnHRLQvx/ and tell us the name of the woman you would like to nominate and a brief description of why they deserve this recognition. Remember the closing date is August 31, 2023.