The Chartist

I was asked to work another night shift, so as blippers do I went armed with my camera. I had about 90 minutes between jobs and drove to Blackwood. I have seen this statue in the middle of a roundabout before and decided to take a photo of it and look up what it was all about.

It was unveiled in June 2008, at a cost of £33,000 to commemorate The Chartist Movement. They fought for what we have today – a vote for all, a better wage and better standards of living.

The 26ft tall monument stands on the Chartist Bridge on the Sirhowy Enterprise Way, and shows a protester striding towards Newport.
The sculpture is made from thousands of steel rings creating a 'mesh' figure - symbolising the Chartist principle of binding together and strength in unity. In Novemeber1839, 22 chartists lost their lives protesting for basic rights outside the Westgate Hotel in Newport. The march started at Blackwood.

The extra blip was taken a short time later as I was driving along a very dark lane on the mountain side and saw so many stars twinkling through the trees and stopped to take a photograph.