Local Life - St Helens - September 2019

35
Saints Star
Former Saints star Keiron Cunningham
is widely considered one of the greatest
rugby league players of all time. Born in
St. Helens, he made his debut for Saints
in 1994, winning five Super League
Championships, seven Challenge Cup
Winners medals and two World Club
Challenge Winner medals in his long
career. Cunningham was also ranked
by Rugby League World as the greatest
player of his era in 2007. His statue was unveiled
in 2010 and remains at the Totally Wicked Stadium
today.
Portrait Bench
Tucked away in Sherdley Park is a metal bench with
some famous faces standing just behind it. The
Sustrans Portrait Bench depicts comedian Johnny
Vegas, Saints star Steve Prescott MBE and an
anonymous glass blower who would have worked
in the town.
Dream
Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, Sutton
Manor’s Dream was a result of a Channel 4
programme – The Big Art Project. The 66 foot high
sculpture originally placed seventh on the show,
missing the shortlisted spots, but was commissioned
when several other projects fell through.
Constructed from white marble and developed
in association with local ex-miners, the sculpture
depicts a nine-year-old girl looking to St. Helens’
future on the site of the former Sutton Manor
Colliery. It was pegged to be Merseyside’s version of
the Angel of the North, visible from the M62.
On the way up, don’t miss the metal canary bench
as a nod to the birds who would died of carbon
monoxide poisoning ahead of the miners, warning
them of impending disaster. Another bench depicts
a coal cart with the words ‘Beneath this ground
toiled human worms, gave all they had to give’
Photo by Raymond Knapman
inscribed above, while six flame-like monoliths
inscribed with poems by artist Bernadette Hughes
and local schoolchildren makes up ‘From Earth,
Light’, leading the way to Dream.
The Green Man
In The Duckeries in Parr lie a series of ‘Poetrees’, and
at the helm, the Green Man. The carved wooden
sculpture was created on the site of a disused
colliery spoil heap, crafted to look over the newly
planted trees as nature takes over once more.
Bold Sculptures
Colliers Moss in Bold is home to a number of
examples of rural art. The former colliery was
landscaped into a nature reserve after the pit closed
in 1985, resulting in the loss of over 800 jobs. Now
former machinery makes up a strange sculpture
garden – a huge pit head wheel still stands on the
site, while a winding wheel has been transformed
Photo by Cara Donovan