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