Little Amal

We went to meet Little Amal - Hope in Arabic - at Wentworth Castle Gardens today. A 3.5 metre puppet she represents young refugees, and is travelling The Walk ‘a festival of art and hope’ from the Syria-Turkey border finishing in Manchester on 3rd November.
Hats off both to the puppeteer inside Amal - on stilts, and the 2 attendants handling the poles bringing the arms to life in such a moving and dignified way and interacting with the public and environment. Personally I’m a big fan of art raising awareness - and funds - of/for important issues in a thoughtful and creative way - this ambitious public artwork does this beautifully in my view
For me there’s a personal dynamic, on my mother’s side, my great grandparents were refugees who came from Eastern Europe just over 100 years ago and settled in Manchester.
Lots to see too at Wentworth Castle Gardens, country park - lots of deer, beautiful exotic flowers in the conservatory, the crescent moon suspended close to the Sun Obelisk, believed to be the oldest monument to a non-royal woman in the country, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who was responsible for the introduction of the smallpox vaccine from Turkey (maybe there’s a link to Amal there) to the UK and Western Europe - and to top it off - unforcast sunshine!