Four all-female teams of student designers and engineers presented their submissions to the town's judging panel, for the soon-to-be-installed plinth which will hold the blue heritage plaque for Ada Nield Chew. Councillor Ben Wye said "I was absolutely blown away by the confidence, fluency, artistry, engineering knowledge and general attitude of the students today. The plinth will be both a tribute to the Crewe women of the future, as well as Ada, our Crewe woman of the past."
The winning design will now move into a pre-production phase before being installed in the summer in a ceremony to unveil the plaque.
More about Ada Nield Chew
In 1894 Ada became known as ‘The Crewe Factory Girl’ following the publication of a series of 12 letters in the Crewe Chronicle in which she highlighted the injustices of working conditions and inequality of pay. She won public (and editorial) support and secured up to 10 extra shillings per year for staff at Compton’s Clothing Factory. She went on to a career in politics, representing the poor and became involved in the women’s rights movement as a suffragist, preferring more peaceful methods of action than a suffragette.