Kind hearted city traders and businesses rally round to try and find permanent home for Sebbie's statue in Lichfield
Market traders and kind hearted business people in Lichfield are rallying round to try and save a statue of the 'UK's Kindest Person' being melted down and recycled which would mean it leaving the city.
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Sebbie Hall from Lichfield was honoured in November 2023 with a life-sized figure wearing a cape in a heroic-looking stance after carrying out an act of kindness every day during the Covid pandemic – and continuing to do so for the last four years.
The 21-year-old, who believes his kindness is his ‘superpower’, has a rare chromosome anomaly and suffers from physical and communication difficulties. His mum Ashley, runs the Sebbie Hall Kindness Foundation, which has raised more than £100,000 for disadvantaged people in Staffordshire.
Last month the Express and Star told how the six feet tall, 120kg statue was moved from London to what was intended to be its permanent home at The Hub, a multi-use art and heritage venue in the centre of Lichfield, but needed to be relocated again as the venue was due to undergo refurbishment.
It led to entrepreneur Oliver Chapman, founder of supply chain procurement company OCI Group and friend of the charity, to immediately front a nationwide campaign to find the statue a new permanent home before a deadline of August 19.
The deadline passed and Mr Chapman arranged for the statue to be temporarily transported to a storage site from The Hub but two men from a courier company could not move the statue by themselves.
Dozens of individuals from the town’s local market came to the rescue though to help lift the statue onto the transit van and away to a temporary storage location.
Ashley said: “The courier guys just couldn’t get the statue out, and it looked like they would have to go without it, leaving it with an uncertain fate, particularly as the statue needs to be situated indoors.
"But suddenly, I saw people from the market piling over, offering to help move it, which was incredible. Sebbie’s statue was finally able to leave the building.
" It was an incredible act of kindness from the people of Lichfield, which is what the foundation is about. Sebbie was overjoyed and I am so grateful to them and Oliver Chapman for arranging it to be moved in the nick of time.”
Several organisations have offered to house the Sebbie statue permanently and are in discussions with the charity.
Mr Chapman said: “It was heart warming to hear how the people of Lichfield pulled together to save the statue, which means so much to Sebbie and his family. It acts as a beacon of hope for all disabled young people worldwide and needs to be preserved.
“We’ve had genuine enquiries from organisations looking to help but, for now the search for a new permanent home for the statue continues."
People from potential venues which may be able to host the statue permanently can email Eric Woollard-White at eric@thecangroup.co.uk.
