Cracker Packers

When you go to Sainsbury's in Carlisle, you immediately smell . . . biscuits. Not from the supermarket, but from the McVities factory next door. There is a joke that you can tell which biscuits are being made - I think it was custard creams today!

Across the road a statue has recently been installed. It is a statue of two biscuit factory girls, or 'cracker packers' as they are affectionately nicknamed, one from 1910 and one from today. It was commissioned in honour of the girls who have worked there over the years, from when it was Carr's factory. Sculpted in bronze by Sculptor Hazel Reeves, the girls stand on a bronze Carr's Water Biscuit. It is not as big as it looks, it is actually quite small. It was funded by McVities and Sainsbury's and some private donations, including one from Hunter Davies who wrote a book about the girls - The Biscuit Girls. 

Funny how few statues there are of women. In Carlisle there is only Queen Victoria. 

The extra photo, although not good because the statue, wet from a recent shower, was against the sun, but it does show that the statue is at least in the vicinity of the factory, although some people thought it should have been bigger and closer to the factory.