Refurbished statue unveiled after £40k restoration

The statue was rescued from a skip in the 1980s after it was removed from the Belvoir Centre

A statue has been officially unveiled in a Leicestershire town after a £40,000 restoration project.

North West Leicestershire District Council removed the bronze Mother and Child sculpture from its position outside Coalville's library in September last year so it could be cleaned up and renovated.

It was re-installed in August at the town's Belvoir Centre, close to where it was originally sited in 1963.

The restored statue was unveiled in a ceremony on Saturday.

The statue has been cleaned and polished up

The statue, designed by Robert Thomas, was commissioned in 1963 by the company that built Coalville's shopping precinct.

It depicts a mother proudly looking forward with her child looking behind her and holding a string shopping bag, which contains lumps of coal, a bobbin, a baby doll and the fourth item was thought to have been a battery.

The features reflect the mining, weaving and toy-making industrial heritage.

The statue was later due to be removed and had to be rescued by the district council, before it was installed in front of the town's library in High Street in 1988.

Speeches were made before the statue was unveiled

Ceri Thomas, the son of the sculpture, helped unveil the restored statue.

He said: "This statue is incredibly significant.

"It was the first my late father made in 1963. His first public commission."

Mr Thomas said his father wanted to "celebrate emergent, young, modern women in the early 1960s".

"It was important he was celebrating women in a male dominated industry and community in Coalville," he added.

Mr Thomas said he was the child in the statue and the woman was based on his mother.

Mr Thomas said he posed for the statue when he was four years old

The statue’s restoration was funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and carried out by experts from Antique Bronze Ltd.

Mr Thomas said: “We’re absolutely delighted and it’s been beautifully restored.”