101 women to be celebrated in Oswestry exhibition
From Guinevere of King Arthur fame to the Dame Agnes Hunt who helped launch the Orthopaedic Hospital, women have played a major part in the life of Oswestry.
Now, to mark the annual Heritage Open Days project, no fewer than 101 women from Oswestry are to be recognised in a celebratory exhibition wall.
The 101 project has seen women from all walks of life and times gone past to present day nominated for the wall, which will be displayed at the Memorial Hall and other venues in the Oswestry in September.
Heritage Open Days across the country are searching for half a dozen or so women who have made a difference to their area.
Profile - Dame Agnes Hunt:
Dame Agnes Hunt was a British nurse, generally recognised as the first orthopaedic nurse in the country.
She opened a convalescent home, the Baschurch Children’s hospital, for disabled children.
Dame Agnes teamed up with Robert Jones, the military surgeon to work together.
By 1907, they had built an operating theatre and they introduced the diagnostic use of X-rays in 1913.
The home treated wounded soldiers in the First World War.
In 1919, renamed the Shropshire Orthopaedic Hospital, the facility moved to Park Hall, its present day site, where it remains a world-renowned spinal specialist centre.
The hospital also provided training for nurses. Later, a school begun for the children developed into a training college for disabled adults, Derwen College.
Dame Agnes was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her contribution during the war in 1918.
But in Oswestry, Mark Hignett from the town museum has upped the search to 101.
"I wanted to be able to say that we have found more than 100 influential women," he said.
"This year's national Heritage Open Days theme is Extraordinary Women and we have and have had many of these in Oswestry. It is reputed that Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur, was born in Oswestry.
"Women have always been there, but the perception of women in history is that they have not been valued.
"Oswestry has always been guided by women, and it's time we started celebrating them."
Profile - Corrie Davies:
Corrie Davies is Shropshire Council’s community enablement officer.
Corrie is a former Oswestry School pupil who is the driving force behind the successful annual Heritage Open Days that are held around the county every year.
She is responsible for advising and supporting hundreds of events of all shapes and sizes around the county.
A former Oswestry School pupil, she has been involved in many community projects, with the most recent and possibly biggest being the rings made from two war time love letters between soldiers in Oswestry.
The letters written during the illicit affair between Oswestry-based artilleryman Gilbert Bradley and infantryman Gordon Bowsher, were burned into a new ring, and Corrie was one of the main organisers in the project.
She is key to other projects around the county, and attributes her success to having a strong family and support friends and mentors.
As well as women of the past, nominations have flooded in for those from the present, not only from Oswestry but the villages around the town.
"We will feature women of all ages who have been or are influential in the area," said Mr Hignett.
"I don't want to spoil the surprise by announcing all the names but we have got a wide range of people."
Profile - Violette Szabo:
Violette Szabo was born in Paris in 1921, moving to London as a teenager.
In 1940 she joined the Women’s Land Army. At a Bastille Day parade in London she took home a homesick French soldier for dinner and after a whirlwind 42-day romance the couple married.
Husband Etienne Szabo was sent to fight in the Second World War and Violette enlisted in the Territorial Service. During her training she was sent to the Artillery base at Park Hall Army Camp on the edge of Oswestry. She discovered she was pregnant and had to return to London for the birth.
Her husband died in action in 1942 having never seen his daughter. It was his death that saw Violette become a field agent in the Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into France as a spy.
On her second mission she was captured, interrogated and sent to a prison camp. At the beginning of 1945, aged 23, she was put to death in a gas chamber.
Mr Hignett said that among those being featured were Dame Agnes Hunt, and the Allies' spy, Violette Szabo; the woman who gave her life for the war effort did some of her training at the Park Hall military camp on the edge of Oswestry.
The first woman to be buried in Oswestry's extended cemetery in 1862, Sarah Fox, is recognised as is Fanny Mostyn Owen, who was the love interest of Charles Darwin before he left for his voyage on the Beagle.
Another is Shropshire wheelwright's daughter, Olwen Price, who won the hand in marriage of 22-year-old Aldo Gucci.
In modern times one of the many women to be nominated is community engagement officer Corrie Davies, who has helped facilitate dozens of projects in and around the town.
The festival in Oswestry will run from September 6-19.
As well as the exhibition, Heritage Open Days events will see historic places open to the public, art and poetry competitions, dance shows, fashion shows, astronomy talks, solar talks and more.
