The People’s History Museum in Manchester is very interesting with information about the lives of people who struggled for equality and democracy in the UK during the last two centuries.  It is now 100 years since the first women were able to vote although it was limited for those who were over the age of 30 and either a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register.  Of particular interest to me was the Pank-a-Squith board game which was designed and produced about 1913 to teach people about the issues involved and to raise money for the suffragette movement and while playing it I realised the immense difficulties facing the Suffragettes in their desire for a vote for women. (extra)   The exhibits continue with events relating to current issues.

The main photo shows Anthony Bennett’s Clock Sculpture which depicts the changing relationship workers had with time during the industrial revolution when factories were reliant upon cheap labour.
The sculpture shows two struggling mill workers and a child labourer. The shackled slave reminds us that Britain and Manchester’s increasing wealth was based on imported slave grown cotton.  All four of these figures hold onto and at the same time resist the relentless turning of the clock hand.