(1823-1901)
Eastleigh Train Station
Another weekend, another visit. This time to Hampshire where I can visit friends as well as family. I’m packing a lot in this summer. While work occupies me during the week, my boys are away so filling my weekends up with my statue pursuits is a much needed distraction.
On the road back to Leeds I can take in three women. There’s an ongoing rail dispute which isn’t to be resolved until much later. Ironically, the first visit is to Charlotte Mary Yonge who was an important benefactor to the immigrant workers and their families that arrived in Eastleigh to toil in the railway industry. It doesn’t seem much to ask that people are paid fairly and kept safe while doing their jobs. To think the struggle has continued through generations is disheartening to say the least.
On this occasion, having a car and being able to do a quick pit stop between the models has proved useful. Due to said strike, I can rock up at Eastleigh train station and there is room in the car park. At the station a few people walk into the forecourt and walk out again looking dazed and confused, somehow missing the strike information. This means I have the statue to myself.
Situated outside the station, taking a seat on a bench with room for company, sits local author and teacher Yonge who gave Eastleigh its name. I love the invitation to sit awhile with a local public figure. Statues all too often feel unrelatable and intangible. Having a bench is an opportunity to look up close at artwork and almost be at one with it. It is a style that has really taken off, if statues have a fashion….
WomenstatuesUK 