Huge foghorn will be big noise at Sandwell Arts Festival

The final touches are being made to a giant replica foghorn being created as part of an art project celebrating Black Country heritage.

The 19ft long horn, with a diameter of 9ft, has been created from designs once used by the historic Chance Brothers glassworks in Smethwick.

It will form the centrepiece of the Forging Links project – a celebration of the Black Country's metal industry. The foghorn, being created by blacksmith Ian Moran, will be a star attraction at this summer's Sandwell Arts Festival.

Ian is currently putting the sections of the horn together in his workshop in the Cradley Heath Factory Centre in Woods Lane, before it goes on display for the first time in West Bromwich this weekend.

The 41-year-old from Bearwood, said: "Chance Brothers Ltd was more famous for its glass, but it also produced foghorns.

"It was decided, by arts organisation Multistory that a foghorn would be used as a symbol for its Forging Links project.

"I was given an image, something between a drawing and a photograph, that was produced by Chances.

"The challenge then was how to replicate it on a budget."

Mr Moran, who trained in arts and design and has also created a daisy chain sculpture outside the Cradley Heath Liberal Club and a cemetery gateway in Wombourne, said he has already tested part of the horn.

He said: "I have tested it with just two of the portions in place and it makes quite a noise already.

"The horn is made up of six sections in total, all of which are made out of steel. In all it has taken about four weeks to make."

The piece will be exhibited around Sandwell during the arts festival, which launches on Saturday at West Bromwich's Queen's Square Shopping Centre.

The foghorn will be used to transmit voices of people interviewed as part of the Forging Links project, telling stories from the archives of Black Country companies and reading out news from years gone by.

By Sally Walmsley