Statue of Twinkle Little Star poet to be unveiled

Sir Bob Russell raised £90,000 to fund the statue's creation

A statue of the poet who wrote the first verse of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star will be formally unveiled.

Sir Bob Russell raised £90,000 to create the life-sized tribute to Jane Taylor, and her sibling Ann, which will be placed on Colchester High Street.

The former Liberal Democrat MP said it was "dedicated to the children of the world".

Pupils from North Primary School, in the city, were asked to sing the famous nursery rhyme at a ceremony on Saturday.

The Taylor sisters, who both wrote children's poems, lived in West Stockwell Street, in Colchester's Dutch Quarter, from 1796-1810.

In 1806, Jane wrote and published a poem called The Star - the first verse of which would later gain fame as part of the well-known nursery rhyme.

Ardleigh sculptor Mandy Pratt created a smaller version of the statue before she got to work on the final product

The statue, designed by sculptor Mandy Pratt, is 1.8m (5ft 10in) tall and showed Jane pointing at a star.

“I am so excited, it does look fabulous and I’m very, very happy with it," Ms Pratt told BBC Essex.

"They are both lodged in wonder at the star which I think is appropriate."

The sculptor, from Ardleigh, said the statue took about one year to create and followed a much longer planning process.

"I'm delighted it has happened. It was quite a long while in the making - my studio was turned over to nothing else," she added.

'Lovely story'

Sir Bob said he first came up with the idea in 2011 and later worked to crowdfund the money to pay for it.

The sculpture would have the nursery rhyme's lyrics engraved into its base, he said.

"It’s from the attic windows in that house in West Stockwell Street that Jane and Ann looked westwards and Jane got the inspiration to write the poem called The Star - and the rest is history," the ex-MP added.

"There’s a lovely story here and there are other stories that are yet to be told."

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