Thousands of people fulfilled a promise made during the Second World War by dancing on Plymouth Hoe on May 26 as part of the Lady Astor Statue Appeal.
As part of the project to raise a statue to the first woman to take her seat in Parliament, organisers threw a huge party to thank those who have helped make history – and make a pledge by Waldorf Astor come true.
The original tea dances were organised by Nancy and Waldorf Astor during the Second World War to boost morale after the city was bombed almost beyond recognition during the Blitz.
In the wake of this devastation the tea dances were held on The Hoe and Lady Astor famously joined those dancing. At the time Waldorf Astor said:
“The people of Plymouth have danced on the Hoe during the darkest days of war. They will dance here again in peace on a Hoe which overlooks a city which has been planned for them, for a wider, freer, healthier, and more prosperous life.”
Up to 3,000 people – young and old alike gathered on Plymouth Hoe to fulfil that promise and danced again in peacetime. Sailors from HMS Raleigh joined dancers of all generations and Brownies in tribute to the first woman to take her seat in Parliament and who served as Plymouth Sutton MP for 26 years.
The event was organised by the Lady Astor Statue team with Plymouth Dance and with the Drat Pack band playing a range of dance music from the 1920s through to the 1960s and beyond.
Project leader Alexis Bowater said:
“Thousands of people turned up and it was our chance to thank the people of Plymouth who have risen up and so generously given their hard-earned cash to pay for a statue of Nancy Astor outside her former family home on The Hoe. Nearly 1,000 people donated to the statue and 3,000 turned up to the dance, that’s quite an army!”
The first statue of the first woman to take her seat in Parliament anywhere in the world will be unveiled on Plymouth Hoe on November 28 to make exactly 100 years since the people of Plymouth pivoted western democracy on its head.
