Rub For Luck

In Mesnes Park, Wigan, there is a statue of Sir Francis Sharp Powell, MP for the town in various years between 1863 and 1910.
The Ernest Gillick designed bronze statue was erected in 1910, and shows him sitting in a chair. His right shoe protrudes, and a long-standing tradition of rubbing the shoe for luck has always drawn Wiganers in. Consequently, the shoe is always shiny, and the bronze has been repaired many times over.
My kids have always rubbed the shoe in passing, and here is my 36 year old daughter still trying!!