Seven-foot bronze statue will honour Staffordshire's mining heritage
Work is forging ahead on a new sculpture that will honour Staffordshire's proud mining past.
This is the final clay model of The Miner and Pony, which will go up at Sankey's Corner in Burntwood early next year.
Members of Burntwood Town Council and Lichfield District Council visited the studio of artist Peter Walker to see how the project is progressing.
Burntwood-based Mr Walker said the finished article would be a 7ft bronze sculpture. It has been made possible thanks to public donations and £10,000 of funding from local developers.
He said the piece was now due to be sent off to a foundry for casting in bronze and it will take around three to five months to produce.
The design of the artwork was five years in the making, with residents heavily involved in its look. Mr Walker said he took photographs of former miners, who also showed him how to correctly hold the straps of the pony's reins. The animal was modelled on ponies from the town, the measurements of which were taken in order to get the correct scale.
Mr Walker said: "For me, this is perhaps the most important artwork I will make. It is for the town I grew up in and for the people I know. It is of great importance that the history of this town isn't forgotten and, as the town gets larger, the more the mining heritage disappears."
Ron Bradbury, chairman of Sankey's Corner Arts Miner Project, said: "I, and the other members of the SCAMP committee, was filled with pride that the result of years of fundraising and harassing anyone who would listen, it has almost come to fruition.
" The final clay version of the statue is beyond belief and when it is cast in bronze will be a thing of beauty that even London or Paris could not surpass, yet it will be in Burntwood town. A final push for funds is on and anyone with a business that turns a blind eye will surely regret missing out."
