Jean Willson and Deacon Denise Ward

INSPIRATIONAL figures from Islington gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day on Tuesday as nominations came in to recognise the borough’s “bold, brave wonder women”.

Forty women have so far been nominated, including a gymnastics and trampolining instructor at Sobell Sports Centre, a woman who has worked as a lollipop lady for 47 years and mothers who have fought for safer streets since losing their sons to knife crime.

The event at the Peel Institute in Clerkenwell was organised by the Islington4Women group, which was formed in 2017 by founders Anita Grant and Suzanne Lee after they were “outraged” by a BBC poll that said Islington was the worst place for women to live in the country.

The nominations are open until the half term in May when the selected life stories and contributions of some of the women will be told in a book which will be available in libraries and schools.

Director of Choices Sheri Lawal with Islington’s Catherine Briody, Ava Allen and Cllr Roulin Khondoker

Ebony Mackenzie – one of the younger nominees – was nominated by a mother whose daughter’s life was turned around by the trampolining and gymnastics coach, who has worked at the Sobell Sports Centre for 14 years.

She said she was determined to see “my children” succeed at the Olympics, and when asked what inspired her, responded “my squad”.

She added: “They’re with me three to four times a week just training, and it’s the drive they have. They inspire me.”

The mother who nominated her said: “She literally pulled my daughter out of a dark hole and got her on a trampoline and turned her life around after experiencing bullying. She sees the light in every child she works with and makes sure it can shine out.”

Islington4Women’s Anita Grant and Suzanne Lee

In 1968, nominee Jean Willson OBE co-founded the Martin Luther King Playgroup and Adventure Playground behind Highbury and Islington Station.

Ms Willson – who was told on Tuesday that she had the most nominations of any of the women – has spent 50 years fighting for disability rights.

The octogenarian shows no sign of slowing down – she is currently the president of Centre 404, an Islington-based charity that works with people and families with learning disabilities.

Speaking on Tuesday, she described how her daughters were her inspiration: “I started off campaigning because I had a disabled daughter who had learning disabilities, who was a child and a woman without words and I found social injustice.

“I felt I had to speak and I became very bold and very naughty – doing naughty things, as you have to do.

She added: “We took on the big guys – social services, education and the medical profession, to bring our children who’d been deported out of Islington, when she was five, because there was no services in Islington. Because of Victoria, who died nine years ago, I’m still fighting for adults and children with learning disabilities.”

Islington Council’s Molly Edlin and Ellie Mitchell

Community hero Sheri Lawal is the director of Choices, an educational organisation for young people in the borough.

She recently also set up the Auntee Project, supporting young men who are stopped and searched by police.

She told the audience she would like to see Islington become a safer place for all but stressed it wasn’t just a woman’s job to achieve it.

Using her platform, she wanted to give two other women a shout out: “I think the projects that Jessica Plummer and Jenny Appleton – who have lost their young people through knife crime – are absolutely fantastic.”

Both Ms Plummer and Ms Appleton have also been nominated, alongside Sarah Benioff, from the Cripplegate Foundation, who was also at the ceremony this week.

Ophelia and Natasha Smith with nominee Sarah Benioff from the Cripplegate Foundation

A host of other well-known and less well-known faces have been nominated, including Islington-born rapper Little Simz as well as the whole of the Arsenal Women’s Football Club.

Lollipop lady Margaret Lonergan and Anglican deacon Denise Ward were among a host of other names on the list.

When asked who she would single out as her number one inspiration, Ms Grant named Thornhill Square’s Edith Garrud, who died in 1971 at the age of 99. Although only 4 foot 11 inches, Ms Garrud was an expert martial artist who taught the suffragettes how to defend themselves against arresting police officers.

Ms Grant said: “She literally taught the suffragettes how to escape from the police when they tried to catch them…she taught them how to evade capture. Amazing.”