The campaign group fundraising to build a statue of Congleton's inspirational suffragette has received a double boost in the last week.

There were two strands to Elizabeth's Group work upon formulation; with there being less than 3% of statues in the UK of women, the group wanted to both get a statue of Elizabeth Wolstenhome Elmy and to get her name back out in the public eye.

There was a real focus from the group to tell the young people in the town about Elizabeth, who was a strong advocate for educational equality.

Susan Munro, chair of Elizabeth's Group, stated that the group has successfully got a scheme of work written that schools can use to teach pupils about Elizabeth.

The group also wanted to present an annual 'Active Young Citizen Award' with a trophy in Elizabeth's name to local schools.

This would fulfil the current drive to promote our cultural capital and would be given to an outstanding pupil, who has gone above and beyond in the wider community and not dependent on academic ability.

Another aim for the group was to commission a small book about Elizabeth, local historian Linda Hulse was commissioned to write the book and local artist Petra Lea was asked to do some illustrations.

Mrs Munro was "delighted" to receive the published version of the book on Monday, the book titled 'Elizabeth Wolstenhome Elmy Congleton's own Suffragist' briefly tells the story about Elizabeth's life.

The book will be sold at the group's stalls when the country's lockdown and social distancing measures are slowly lifted.

However, if you want to purchase a copy of the book, you can do so by going onto the group's Facebook page and sending Mrs Munro a private message. Mrs Munro will then provide details and get a copy of the book sent to you.

The group has also received a £998.76 donation from the Co-op Community Fund, which has taken their total raised to £23,000.

The fund helps pay for local projects that Co-op members care about. Every time members shop with the Co-op, 1% of what they spend on selected own-branded products and services goes to help fund community projects where they live.

All money raised from shopping bag sales is also given to their chosen projects. The money raised is awarded quarterly and split between the three chosen charities.

The group said: "A huge thank you to the Co-op and all the people who shopped with them and chose to support Elizabeth's Group.

"This money — that has come at such a difficult time when other fundraising sources/activities are on hold due to the pandemic and lockdown — has been such an encouraging shot in the arm for us and will go directly into our statue fund.

"We still have three more quarterly donations from the Co-op to come."

The group would ideally like to raise £60,000 for the statue, which would be in Bridge Street.

Elizabeth Wolstenhome Elmy was Congleton's pioneering suffragist campaigner and she was an activist who fought for equality throughout her life.

Elizabeth worked tirelessly for girls' education, for women's right to own property and for their right to vote. She moved to Congleton from Manchester and lived in the town for 50 years, opening a girls' school in Moody Street.

She continued to campaign for equality - with marches, speeches, over 1600 petitions and 7000 letters. Elizabeth died in 1918, just after the first women got the right to vote.

Elizabeth was nicknamed 'the grey matter in the brains behind the women's movement' by Emmeline Pankhurst, and she is listed on the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square in London.

If you want to volunteer and help in the fundraising contact Susan Munro 07534510841.