Sculptures planned to promote history of town
A series of new sculptures are being planned for the major gateway into a town to help promote its local history.
These drawings show two of the sculptures planned for Horse Fair in Rugeley, where a £500,000 roadworks scheme is taking place.
Lea Hall and Brereton Collieries Memorial Society has drawn up the plans, which includes a mining mural and steel galloping horses.
The society is also behind the controversial £70,000 miners' tribute which will involve four 8ft-high sculptures being put on Globe Island to celebrate the hundreds of families in the town with links to the mining industry.
The location was at the centre of a dispute last year and police were called when a row at a town council meeting got out of hand.
Bosses at Lea Hall and Brereton Collieries Memorial Society say they want to support the improvements being made in the town and help promote its rich history with a new series of sculptures.
It is not yet known how much the project might cost, but it is hoped funding can be secured in the form of grants.
Alex Smith, secretary of the society, said: "We have got some ideas and have taken them to the town council.
"One idea is for a series of galloping horses made out of steel which reflects Rugeley's past and the horse fair.
"Another idea is keeping with the mining theme, as Rugeley was a mining town, is to paint a mural showing miners walking in to their shifts.
"Another idea was to erect a steel deer sculpture using scrap iron.
"We want to promote Rugeley in a positive light.
"We don't yet know how much it would cost but we would look to get funding from the lottery and heritage funds."
Sculptor Andy De Comyn, who created the Shot At Dawn statue at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, near Lichfield, has drawn up the designs.
The 48-year-old said: "We've been looking at the different aspects of Rugeley's heritage.
"Someone mentioned there used to be antlers hanging from the railway bridge which is where the idea came for the stag and it links in with Cannock Chase.
"We also thought about having galloping horses. I'm really pleased with the designs. People have been very positive about them.
"We now need to put it to the town and see what they think."
The roadworks scheme currently being carried out involves reducing Horse Fair to a single lane carriageway, removing the traffic signals at St Paul's Road and the railway arches and replacing the junctions with roundabouts.
