Astor statue celebrations on track as GWR joins support and names train after 'First Great Westerner'

GREAT Western Railway will name one of their new Intercity Express Trains after Nancy Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons.
 
The train naming will take place on Thursday 28 November, exactly 100 years to the day that Plymouth Sutton declared the results of the election.
 
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said “Nancy Astor is one of our Great Westerners, nominated by our customers to have a train named after her, and we are delighted to be able to name the train on the centenary of the election results.
 
Great Westerners are chosen because of the contribution they have made to our region. There is no doubt that Nancy Astor was an outstanding role model for women and changed the way our Parliament looks and acts. 
 
Railways also helped to change the fabric of society and we are proud to have the “Nancy Astor” join our fleet and to see her operating on our new timetable linking communities and promoting women across our network.”
 
After the naming the train will leave Paddington Station in London and travel to Plymouth with invited guests on board, including members of the Astor family, and Members of both the House of Commons and House of Lords arriving in time to attend the unveiling of the first statue to Nancy Astor on Plymouth Hoe.

FREE return tickets on the Nancy Astor train have been offered to every female MP in both the House of Commons or the House of Lords who are either serving or ex-serving.

Crowds of schoolchildren from across the city will be joined by Girlguides to march to the statue which will be unveiled at 1:00pm to mark 100 years of women in Parliament - 100 years to the day since the people of Plymouth voted Nancy Astor in.

Special celebratory branded busses from Plymouth Citybus will transport guests from the station to The Hoe and back during the day.

Nancy Astor was the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons and was voted in by the people of Plymouth on 28th November 1919, changing the course of democratic history.

Final preparations are being carried out by sculptor Hayley Gibbs on the statue: “The top half of the statue in wax is inspected, fitted with spru's and through to the next stage. 

We have leveled the statue as a whole and I'm now working on the legs and shoes. The laces may be cast separately but it will all come together in metal,” she said.

Everyone is welcome to attend the unveiling which will take place in Plymouth on November 28th 2019 on Plymouth Hoe, outside Lady Astor’s former family home at Elliot Terrace.