Building hope at Peebles High School

Pupils from Peebles High are delighted to host Hope.

The meticulously crafted model was assembled using 32,327 lego bricks and embodies the suffrage movement of the 20th century.

Aptly named ‘Hope’, she was built for UK Parliament in 2018 to mark 100 years since the first women won the right to vote in Britain.

Since then she’s been on loan from the House of Commons on a tour of the country.

Hope is 5ft 6in tall and took three Lego employees 171 hours to build.

She is now available to loan in the lead up to 2028, to celebrate the 1928 Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act which gave equal voting rights to all women and men.

She will visit every region and nation to encourage everyone to explore local stories of the suffrage campaign.

Her debut at Peebles High was organised by James McMordie, teacher of Modern Studies and History, and PT Leadership.

And she certainly made her presence known, as eagle-eyed pupils witnessed the delivery of a large wooden box marked ‘fragile’.

However, Hope is anything but fragile. She is a reminder of how the bravery of the suffragettes created change that people didn’t think at the time was possible – change which continues to benefit and empower women 100 years on.

The lego giant will be on display at Peebles High for three weeks, where she will inspire stories and conversations about women’s suffrage, gender inequalities and democracy.

Teacher of History, Jane Maciver, said: “S1 pupils have been given a lesson on why women wanted the vote, the actions of the Suffragists and Suffragettes, and the role of women during World War I which led to the 1918 Representation of the People Act. Hope has helped them consider issues or equality and come to conclusions about different campaigning methods.

“Other students in the school are finding out more about ‘Votes for Women’ using a QR code, and the S2’s have made an information display to help tell the story of how votes for women were won.”

Hope has taken pride of place outside the head teachers office, and Lego lovers are being encouraged to take selfie with her.