Voting has closed for residents of Finsbury Park to pick their favourite famous figures who have a connection to the area.
A women’s rights activist, the founder of a childcare centre, and a soul musician with an OBE have been chosen as the ward’s three most illustrious sons and daughters.
They will be immortalised as figures in an art installation known as a Portrait Bench, which will be placed outside Finsbury Park Station by Sustrans, a charity that encourages people to make positive travel choices.
The bench will mark a new cycling route to Highbury Corner, and will feature the three vote-winners as life-sized portraits cut from sheet steel.
They are:
· Florence Keen (1868-1942), who founded the North Islington Infant Welfare Centre in 1913. Now known as the Manor Gardens Welfare Trust, it continues to provide community healthcare in Islington.
· Edith Garrud (1872-1971), a Suffragette who was also one of the first professional martial arts instructors in the western world, running a ju jitsu school on Seven Sisters Road.
· Jazzie B, OBE, (1963 – ), a DJ, music producer and entrepreneur who founded the band Soul II Soul, and has since appeared on the TV programme Jamie’s Dream School.
Bryn Lockwood, Sustrans’ Area Manager in North London, said: “The figures, viewed from both directions, will stand behind a bench and encourage people to rest beside local characters from the area.”
