insideKENT Magazine Issue 30 - September 2014 | Page 11
NEWS
MODERN DAY CANTERBURY ‘PILGRIMS’ TO BE
IMMORTALISED IN BRONZE
Canterbury personalities are to be immortalised
in bronze as part of a project to create a largerthan-life statue of Geoffrey Chaucer in Canterbury
city centre. In exchange for a major contribution
towards Canterbury Commemoration Society’s
£200,000 project, donors can have their
likenesses carved into the statue’s plinth as one
of the pilgrims… and spaces are still available!
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales used a
pilgrimage to Canterbury to introduce a gallery
of highly distinctive characters, drawn from all
walks of life, as a means of telling a varied
collection of stories. The Canterbury Tales is
acknowledged as the first great poem written in
recognisable literary English, which is still widely
read and enjoyed today.
Canterbury Commemoration Society has
commissioned a sculpture to commemorate
Geoffrey Chaucer and his association with
Canterbury, which will be placed at the junction
of the High Street and Best Lane, opposite the
Eastbridge Hospital. The proposed figure of
Chaucer will represent the relationship of the city
with the county and the country through
pilgrimage and, more recently, through tourism.
the Tales, so the Society is appealing to those
who would like to generously donate to the fund
to select from the characters still available and
be recorded in perpetuity as supporters of the
Chaucer in Canterbury Project. The Society has
been asking for donations of £5,000 for each
character, although some characters are in
memoriam and will be funded by multiple
donations from various supporters.”
The figure of Chaucer is designed to be looked
up at from below and will be life size plus a quarter
- 2.16m high. The narrative behind the sculpture
is Chaucer facing towards the Eastbridge Hospital
and therefore London, welcoming visitors. The
plinth will be one metre high and resembles a
horse’s hoof. The seven metre long illustration
around it will be based on the painting by Thomas
Stothard, The Pilgrimage to Canterbury, which
hangs in the Beaney Museum and Art Gallery in
Canterbury.
Anyone interested in contributing to the project
should contact Pam Doyle at
[email protected]. Further information on the
project can be found at
www.chaucerstatuecanterbury.org.
Chief fundraiser for the project is Pam Doyle. She
says: “We are offering individual donors the
opportunity to be depicted as one of the pilgrims
on a mural that will encircle the statue’s plinth.
There are 29 pilgrims and the host mentioned in
‹ Canterbury Commemoration Society’s proposed statue of Geoffrey Chaucer and its plinth.
STEWART GARDEN SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN 2014 NAMES TOP 10 SCHOOLS
Stewart Garden, the gardening division of UK manufacturer, Stewart Group
Holdings, has named the top ten schools in the Stewart Garden Schools
Campaign with Pippa Greenwood 2014, including Kent’s Hook Lane Primary
School in Welling.
In total, 100 schools across the UK, from the Isle of Wight to Stirling,
participated in the Stewart Garden Schools Campaign with Pippa Greenwood
2014. The aim of the competition, which was first launched in 2012, is to
encourage pupils to get involved in grow your own. In the 2012/13 campaign,
95 schools took part, with the winning prize going to Lough View Integrated
Primary School in Belfast.
In alphabetical order, the top ten schools are:
Pippa Greenwood, BBC Gardeners’ Question Time panellist, BBC Gardeners’
World columnist and judge for the campaign, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed
looking through all the entries for the Stewart Garden Schools Campaign
2014. It’s great to see children growing plants, especially fruit and vegetables,
and learning so much. I congratulate everyone who got involved.”
Aqueduct Primary School, Telford
Bradley Barton, Newton Abbot
Cherry Tree Primary School, Lymm
Great Arley School, Thornton Cleveleys
Hook Lane Primary School, Welling
Long Sutton County Primary School, Long Sutton
Lough View Integrated Primary School, Belfast
Stourport Primary School, Stourport-on-Severn
Westonzoyland Community Primary School, Bridgwater
Wilden All Saints CofE Primary School, Stourport-on-Severn
The top ten schools have received a visit from the judges. Once their
feedback is collate