A GROUP of Bournemouth schoolgirls have realised their dream of providing a permanent tribute to Mary Shelley in the town.

The teenagers from Avonbourne College came up with the idea of paying homage to the famous author of Frankenstein – who is buried at St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth – when schools were invited to enter a competition to suggest ways of improving the town.

And their concept became a reality when the statue they designed, together with a range of gothic-inspired bat boxes, were installed at Shelley Park in Boscombe.

Executive headteacher Debbie Godfrey-Phaure said: “The girls came up with this wonderful concept as they wanted to pay tribute to an author that has helped inspire them.

“They felt the story of Franken-stein, in particular, encapsulated the need for tolerance and acceptance of others’ differences.

“And in Mary Shelley they have a female author who wrote a work of genius at the age of just 18.”

Avonbourne’s Shelley project was born in 2010 when three students won the local ‘Make Your Mark’ competition.

Their idea was to celebrate the cultural links in Bournemouth and provide a gothic-inspired shrine to Mary Shelley.

The school decided to turn that idea into reality and successfully applied to the SITA Trust to fund the sculpture.

The girls then worked with artist Andy Kirkby to create the statue, which will be permanently based in what was the back garden of Mary Shelley’s son Peter’s home in Shelley Park.

Students across the year groups were involved in the project, with a dozen working on the design and another 10 helping to prepare the groundwork at Shelley Park.