Re: Shields Gazette: Stan Laurel Statue Hit by Earthquake
Bruce Calvert
Stan statue pipped at the post
Last updated 15:25, Tuesday, 19 August 2008
NEXT March, Ulverston will finally see the long-awaited statue of Stan
Laurel and Oliver Hardy take its place at County Square.
View more pictures...
TRIBUTE: The Laurel and Hardy statue destined for Ulverston Photo by
Max Ibbeson
But the town has been pipped to the post by Bishop Auckland, in County
Durham, which plans to unveil its own Stan Laurel statue next month.
Stan was born in Ulverston but moved to Bishop Auckland with his
family as ayoungster. A large bronze sculpture of Laurel and Hardy is
due to be unveiled in Ulverston next March as part of the County
Square Enhancement Scheme, following years of efforts to bring the
statue to Stan’s birthplace.
In 2005, Laurel and Hardy fan club Sons of the Desert raised £56,000
for the statue. However, no suitable site in Ulverston was found for
the statue at the time and it remained in London where it was made.
Then, in 2007, Ulverston town councillors backed new plans for
enhancing County Square, at a cost of up to £500,000, with the life-
size statue of the pair as a centrepiece.
The Ulverston-bound statue was created by artist Graham Ibbeson, who
also made the iconic statue of Eric Morecambe which has seen fans
flock to Morecambe to pay homage to the comic. It is hoped the Laurel
and Hardy statue will create a similar boost to Ulverston’s visitor
numbers.
The North East statue has been cast by an artist called Bob Olley and
was commissioned by Wear Valley District Council.
It was even caught up in a typhoon in China, where Mr Olley was
working, before it was transported 11,500 miles to Bishop Auckland
town centre. Mr Olley says of his statue: “The quality of workmanship
is excellent.”
But Jayne Kendall, South Lakeland District Council regeneration
officer, told the Evening Mail: “The Ulverston statue is nothing like
the Bishop Auckland one – theirs is a caricature of Stan and ours is
an actual representative of both Stan and Oliver.
“The Ulverston statue will be the definitive one. We knew that there
was another statue on the go, so good for them.”
The statue will stand on the pavement outside the Coronation Hall
theatre, where the duo made an appearance on the balcony in 1947.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson, or Stan Laurel as he came to be known, was
born at Foundry Cottages, now Argyle Street, on June 16, 1890.
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com