Adrift....

Adrift by name and adrift by nature. This sculpture was executed by Irish sculptor, John Cassidy, who was a sculptor of some repute in Victorian and Edwardian Manchester. He donated this sculpture, which represents humanity adrift in a sea of troubles, to the city in 1907. It was supposed to go in a huge new art gallery that was going to fill the space where the old Royal Infirmary was in what is now Piccadilly Gardens. It seems that what to do with that part of the city has been on the agenda for a LONG time.

The art gallery was, sadly, never built and the gardens were created. The statue was put in the centre of them. After the present Queen ascended the throne in 1953, Adrift was moved and replaced with the Coronation Fountain in that year. Adrift ended up on the edge of the gardens on the Portland Street side. The disastrous remodelling of Piccadilly Gardens in 2001/02 saw the fountain shunted off to the rose garden outside Platt Hall (aka Museum of Costume) in Platt Fields Park and Adrift put into storage.

In 2010 it reappeared in St. Peter's Square for all of about five minutes it seemed. I remember talking to the guy putting the finishing touches to it. I thought it had found a suitable permanent home. But within weeks of it being revealed, the hoardings had gone up across the square for its grand refurbishment and it disappeared from view again.

It's just reappeared again as part of the St. Peter's Square refurbishment. It's actually on Peter Street on the space between Central Library and the Midland Hotel. And very fine it looks. Hopefully it's come to a final resting place. Although it's been wandering the city for over a 100 years now, people were treating it as something new. It looks as if it's finally getting the appreciation it deserves.