Hope

Spotted this statue when in West Malling today collecting some floor tiles.

A sculpture in Bronze by Sarah Cunnningham named 'HOPE' provides a local point within the town where people can meet.

West Malling and surrounding countryside has a rich history some of which is depicted on the cloak of the statue going back to 1090.
The statue was commissioned by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council to mark the Millennium.
West Malling Airfield featured very largely in the Second World War.
In 1704 the first recorded game of cricket took place here.
For many hundreds of years the town was the site of a thriving market under a charter from the Abbess and the market continued even after the dissolution of the Abbey by Henry VIII.
Wyatt?s rebellion against Mary Tudor was crushed by troops loyal to the Queen, stationed at West Malling.
Wyatt was then executed in 1554.
Scenes from the time of the Black Death (1348-49), when West Malling was the site of mass graves or plague pits, where the dead from a wide area of North West Kent were buried.
Of the inhabitants of the whole town and the Abbey only 15 remained alive. A community of Benedictine nuns by Bishop Gundulph was founded in 1090.