Two Wartime Tales

 Carrying on from my last post where I promised more information on some of the photos I'd taken.

The sculpture above by Ray Lonsdale is on Scarborough's North Bay.  It's called Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers.  It was sited on the North Bay for a four week period but a petition was set up by a local resident, Maureen Robinson, to keep the sculpture in place.  With a short time  to go before the removal of the sculpture she purchased it and gifted it to the town.  It is now cared for by the local council.

Freddie Gilroy (1921-2008) was born in County Durham to a mining family.  He went to work at the local mine but also joined the Territorial Army.  In 1939 at the start of war he was called up to be a gun aimer for the Royal Artillery.  Towards the end of the war he became a Regimental Police Officer.  On the 15th April 1945 he was part of the force sent to Hamburg to liberate Bergen Belsen.  The horrors of what he experienced stayed with him for the rest of his life.  He spent his 24th birthday within the camp and when interviewed by a local newspaper in the 1980s he confessed that he had cried on every birthday since then.

That's Scarborough Castle in the background, shrouded in the morning mist.

In the Canadian Memorial hanger at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington is the Halifax Bomber called Friday 13th.

We watched a small film in the on site cinema about how it came to be named.  Bomber Command 158 Squadron flew Halifax bombers from nearby RAF Lissett each plane having it's own unique call sign.  By 1944 all Halifax Bombers given the F for Freddy designation had been lost so when the new one arrived it was deemed to be unlucky.  On it's first mission in March 1944 bomber LV907 F broke that run of bad luck.  That night 95 aircraft were lost but LV907 returned.  The Canadian crew decided to call it Friday 13th to 'jinx' it even more, they painted many images of bad luck onto the plane and defiantly embraced the F for Freddy superstition.  LV907 Friday 13th went on to return safely from 128 more missions before the end of the war.  This particular Halifax was held in great affection by its crews and of course they all wanted to fly on missions in this aircraft.

Here is a - link - to more about this plane.

Mount Pleasant Gardens

On our way to Mount Pleasant Garden and Sculpture Trail we passed Paddington Bear on his hill at Snugburys Ice Cream farm just outside Nantwich.  We waved to him as we passed by on the way to Tarporley and stopped in a layby opposite to take a photo on the way back.

Nearly every year Snugburys make a huge sculpture for the hill which can be seen for quite a distance around.   He stands fifty feet high and is made from metal, straw and woven willow.  Here is a - link - to more about the sculpture.

 

 

We'd never visited Mount Pleasant Gardens before so didn't know what to expect but we spent a delightful couple of hours there finding all the different areas of the garden and following the sculpture trail.  The garden is ten acres in size and has both garden and woodland, some areas are steeply terraced with views over the Cheshire countryside.  There are specimen trees, four ponds, a Japanese garden, bog garden, vegetable garden and a stumpery with tree ferns.  There is also a sculpture workshop, tea room and plant sales.

Above is the chariot and horses placed in the centre of the wildflower meadow.

You can stand on the chariot to have a photo taken if you want.

It look wonderful in the bright sunshine.

I took many photos so below are just some of them. Apologies in advance for the photo overload.

 

We stopped for a cup of tea and piece of cake.  The courgette and avocado cake was delicious and such a huge piece that I had to take half of it home for later.

All for now.

The Mayfly Throne

 In one of the local city parks at Burslem you can find a sculpture called The Mayfly Throne.  

  It's by local sculptors Andy Edwards and Philip Hardaker and was inspired by the life cycle of the Mayfly.

It replaces a statue of a water nymph which was donated to the park in 1894 by Sir Henry Doulton. It was vandalised in the 1960s and taken away for repair but never returned.

The Mayfly sculpture was unveiled in 2012. It sits on the original plinth the top of which was decorated by pupils from three local schools.  I assume the idea of throne is  because you could possibly, if small enough, sit between the wings. 

The Mayfly Throne isn't a replica of the orgiginal as a detailed photograph of it couldn't be found.

 

Andrew or Andy Edwards is famous for many sculptures including the one below.

I took this photo when we visited Liverpool in June 2016.

Also locally on The Brampton in Newastle-under-Lyme the WWI  nurse inspired by author Vera Brittain writer of Testament of Youth who was born there in 1893.

For once it was a sunny morning when we walked in the park although very cold so gloves and scarf came out of the drawer again.

 

More blossom trees.

Back to Chatsworth

 Last month we visited the Radical Horizons exhibition which is being held in the grounds of the Chatsworth Estate (link to my post here) and saw just under half of it.  Last week we returned to see the rest of the exhibition before it closes in October.

Above and below Transmutation by Arturo Gonzales and Maru Izaguirre.

The sculpture is a reflection on what might happen if we brought back extinct species through genetic cloning.

The sculpture is a larger than life manifestation of Alebriges, folk art sculptures which feature elements of different species.  It is made of fibreglass and metal.

 Above and below The Flybrary by Christina Sporrong.

This is a twenty foot high steel with book like birds flying on the top.  The birds are to show thoughts and the face is a representation of all races, colours and creeds.

 

 Above and below Wings of Glory by Adrian Landon,  It is a sculpture of the mythalogical horse Pegasus.

It is made from laser-cut or welded steel and hand hammered alluniminium.  It is powered by a 2-hp motor from a 1980s golf cart.  This allows the horse to gallop slowly and flap its wings.  

 Above and below Mum by Mr and Mrs Ferguson

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Mum is made from polystyrene, concrete and fifty-five thousand US and Canadian pennies.

It is the UK's first 'penny' bear.

 Above and below Stone 40 by Benjamin Langholtz and Amihay Gonen.

 These are 'floating' stones gathered from a nearby quarry and chosen to match the stones used to construct Chatsworth House.   You can climb on the stones.

 Shrine: Elyssian Towers by Brent Allen Spears.

The artist worked with local young people to create a work from 'trash' and objects found locally.  Also from glass bottles donated by  Ardagh glass of Barnsley.

 Wings of Wind (W.O.W) by Bryan Tedrick.

 

A pair of steel wings with a 28 foot wingspan.  The wings rotate in the breeze.

They allow a person to stand inside the circular frame with arms outstretched in imitation of Leonardo Davinci's Vitruvian Man.

Murder Inc is by Charles Gadaken

Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film of The Birds it relates to a group or 'murder' of crows.

There are 100 crows in the small garden area near the house, you have to ask to enter a little way to see them.

They represent the unrepentant and unihibited power of nature.

They are made from mild steel from indvidual drawings.  Apparently the one in the top hat is moved to a new place every day and the volunteers and staff enjoy looking for it.

 

The weather was beautiful all day and I'm so glad we went back to see the rest of the exhibition