by Graham Tutthill

gtutthill@thekmgroup.co.uk

WANTED: Someone to act as the first woman who flew across the English Channel for a centenary DVD about her life. But you must be size 12.

Harriet Quimby made history when she flew from Whitfield to Hardelot Plage in 59 minutes on April 16, 1912. But it happened a day after the Titanic sunk, and Harriet didn’t receive the news coverage that would otherwise have followed such a feat.

Plans are now being made for a suitable commemoration of her achievement, 100 years on, and the Dover-based Harriet Quimby Centenary Project organisers are looking for two people to undertake some voluntary work over the coming weeks.

"Firstly, we are looking for a young lady to act as Harriet Quimby herself," said project secretary Andy Cooper.

"We have commissioned a DVD about the life story of Harriet Quimby and we are already in pre-production," he said. "Shooting will take place in Dover, Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, and Hardelot near Boulogne in May or June.

"Louise Miller of Mascarada in London Road is working on a replica of Harriet’s iconic purple flying suit and we are looking for a local girl to play Harriet in the DVD wearing Louise’s suit.

"The only criteria regarding suitability is that the person who comes forward will need to be a size 12, as that is the size suit that is being made."

Since some of the shooting will take place on a weekday in France, a valid UK Passport is required along with being able to take a couple of days leave from work.

The part has no spoken lines and membership of Equity is not a requirement. All travel expenses and meals will be covered by the project.

"It’s an opportunity for someone to have a bit of fun and help the project at the same time", said Mr Cooper. "Anyone interested should email secretary@hqcp.org.uk

Project chairman Martin Young said they were also looking for a capable website designer to build their new website. The domain name of http://www.hqcp.org.uk/ has been registered and the committee is keen to get the website completed as soon as possible.

"It’s a blank canvas for someone to showcase their talent in a quite unique way," he said.

"We don’t have the funding in place to be able to offer this as paid employment, but if there are any talented designers out there who would like to take this on, we’d love to hear from them."

Mr Young is on 07903 819902 after office hours.