Money for sculptures

IT WAS in the days of British Waterways when there was a venture into sculptures around the waterways with the most famous being one of the two on the Ribble Link, both being in wood and both quickly rotting away.

But Canal & River Trust is now also venturing into sculptures, but not just a couple but many along the Lee Navigation along a walk that will be called The Line, Keith Gudgin tells us,

Leading partner

The Trust, we are told, is the leading partner in the funding for this venture that will stretch between bridges 2 and 4 on the navigation, with contractors installing the sculptures from on the 14th May.

The many sculptures are by 'major contemporary artists' including Abigail Fallis; Martin Creed; Eduardo Paolozzi; Damien Hirst, Piotr Uklanski and Gary Hume.  We have not been advised of the cost.

Ribble Piddler

The two erected on the Ribble were the one of a man that quickly became known as the Ribble Piddler, the picture shows why, but soon rotted and had to be removed for safety reasons.

The other called 'Air' was of a nondescript format, but became the target for vandals and quickly bits of it were found floating in the waterway, so that too was removed for safety reasons.

The Lee Navigation sculptures are somewhat of a secret, so we are not aware of what they are made, but hopefully not wood, or their life will undoubtedly be very short.