Our President, Maxine Blades, was honoured to be invited to a special reception hosted by the Canterbury Commemoration Society after the unveiling of a statue of local poet Aphra Behn by The Queen yesterday.
Our members are all very familiar with Aphra and her incredible life story, thanks to a fascinating talk by Charlotte Cornell early last year. On that occasion we also had a preview of the statue’s design (created by artist Christine Charlesworth).
The new statue is positioned outside The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury and is a testament to Aphra’s talent and the fact that she was the first fully professional woman writer in the English language. It was a special moment for Maxine to watch The Queen unveil the statue – accompanied by Charlotte’s daughter.
As readers may have seen in local and national news and social media coverage, The Queen then toured The Beaney and enjoyed a performance of part of one of Aphra’s plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
You can read more about Canterbury Commemoration Society here.
For more details about the unveiling event, click here.
Picture: A screenshot from a video clip of the unveiling ceremony (left; picture credit: David Clark, Rotary Club of Canterbury Sunrise) and a model of the statue of Aphra by Christine Charlesworth (right; picture credit: The Rotary Club of Canterbury.)
