Life Giving Properties

A little more time outdoors today with the advantage of the journey through the Park which gave me the opportunity of taking a few snaps of, amongst others, the statue of Sir Francis Powell which featured in a September blip to give you an idea of the scale. On this occasion my attention was drawn to the bronze panels on the side of the statue. This one is titled 'Public Health' and features a woman giving fresh water to a group of small children, dated 1910. This would have been the time when many local authoritoes were setting up Water Boards to implement ambitious schemes to provide clean drinking water and remove effluent from the densely populated towns.

A little research found a surprising connection with some of my blip-friends. The sculptor Ernest G Gillick was born in Bradford (you know who you are!) in 1874 he became member of the Royal Academy and submitted work for several major public monuments. One of his pedestal statues of Henry VII can be found in the Welsh Historical Statuary at City Hall, Cardiff (Ceridwen). The London connection is his statues of J M W Turner and Richard Cosway for the Victoria and Albert facade and the Britannia group on the former National Provincial Bank, Princes Street, London (ChrisG if you're passing).

Glasgow (Mickdo100) was another destination for Gillick's work represented by the figure of St Mungo on the Cenotaph in George Square. I might look out for this on Saturday.

And last but not least the sculpture Ex Tenebris Lux (From Darkness Light) can be found in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens in New Zealand - if you're ever in the vicinity Waipushrink!

It's surprising what a bit of googling can cobble together - the global village is not so new after all :) He doesn't appear to have done much in Cumbria I'm afraid.

I bet you can't wait for the public education panel !