“Doves of Peace” (1986) by Michael Lyons on Bridge Street.

By Kevin Boyd

First published here, March 2019

On 5 November 1980 Manchester declared itself the world’s first nuclear free city with the City Council calling on the government to “refrain from the manufacture or positioning of any nuclear weapons of any kind within the boundaries of our city”.  To mark the occasion, the Council began consultations on the creation of a Peace Garden in the city centre and as part of that process they held a ‘Sculpture For Peace’ competition in 1985 that was eventually won by Barbara Pearson’s ‘Messenger of Peace’. Pearson’s statue stood in the Manchester Peace Garden near St. Peters Square until the area was re-developed in 2014 and its location is currently unknown.

Michael Lyons, a lecturer in Fine Art at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), was shortlisted for the competition and despite not winning his design was popular with the selection panel and was eventually commissioned by the Council. Several locations were considered, including the nearby Crown Square, and the sculpture was eventually located on the Manchester side of the Albert Bridge on Bridge Street where it can be seen by motorists travelling across the bridge towards Salford.

The four-metre-high painted steel sculpture represents 15 doves with interwoven wings rising towards the sky and is seated on a concrete pedestal that includes the inscription: “THE WORLD’S FIRST NUCLEAR FREE CITY AND SPONSORED BY THE PLANNING COMMITTEE OF MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL”. Work on the sculpture was carried out at the Mayflower Engineering Works in Sheffield. It was unveiled on 8 September 1986 and now stands next to the redeveloped People’s History Museum.

“Sir John Barbirolli” (2000) by Byron Howard in Barbirolli Square.

By Kevin Boyd

First published here, March 2019

Sir John Barbirolli was principle conductor of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra from 1943 to 1970. When the Hallé moved to the Bridgewater Hall on the closure of the historic, but acoustically inadequate, Free Trade Hall in 1996, the public square immediately outside the new concert venue was named after the influential conductor who is credited with resurrecting the orchestra during the bleak post-war years. The idea of a sculpture to memorialise Barbirolli was muted at the time but nothing was agreed, and certainly nothing completed, by the time of the new hall’s opening.

Ivan Saxton, who would later co-found the Public Memorials Appeal Trust, commissioned and funded the sculpture and approached Byron Howard on the recommendation of Barbirolli’s widow, Lady Evelyn Barbirolli in 1997. Howard completed the work in 2000 and it was unveiled at the entrance to the Bridgewater Hall by the Duke of Devonshire on a pedestal stone chosen to match that used to face the hall itself. Howard included an inscription on the bust that read “Audio et Gaudeo” (“I hear and rejoice”).

The sculpture is included in the Talking Sculptures Manchester initiative.

“Frank Sidebottom” (2013) by Paulina Skavova in Timperley.

By Kevin Boyd

First published here, February 2019

Over the past few decades Britain has developed a minor, but nevertheless healthy, tradition of erecting statues honouring its comedy heroes. Amongst others, Liverpool Lime Street station has its Ken Dodd tribute; the Lancashire coastal town of Morecambe brings you sunshine with the statue of its namesake Eric; and Caerphilly (yes, Caerphilly!) honours perhaps its most famous son, the great Tommy Cooper.

While Greater Manchester has a rich comic tradition, it took until 2013 for it to erect its first public memorial to one of its many comedy heroes. It’s fair to say that Chris Sievey’s comic alter ego Frank Sidebottom was a cult figure, but through his regular appearances on North West regional TV throughout the 1980s and early ‘90s, and his surreal, if sporadic, record and video releases, he forged a unique place in Manchester comic history.

The character of Frank – like his creator Chris – lived in the village of Timperley near Altrincham in the borough of Trafford. Frank/Chris perhaps did more to publicise Timperley than any of its several other more famous residents so it’s fitting that three years after Chris’ death from cancer in 2010 this full size bronze statue was unveiled opposite the Stonemasons Arms on Stockport Road. Fans of Frank and friends of Chris helped raise the necessary funds for the statue, which was created in the Czech Republic by Paulina Skavová and loosely based on a smaller maquette created by fellow sculptor Colin Spofforth. The statue stands at 363 Stockport Road, Timperley WA15 7UQ.

“Emmeline Pankhurst” (2018) by Hazel Reeves

By Kevin Boyd

First published here, February 2019

Manchester city centre is full of monuments to crusty old colonels and doddery deacons, so I’m starting a series of photographs of Manchester public sculptures, monuments and statues and I thought I’d try to redress the balance (if only temporarily) and start with Manchester’s newest piece of public art.

Hazel Reeves‘ sculpture of Moss Side-born suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst – the first female statue in Manchester that is not of Queen Victoria – was unveiled in December 2018 in St Peter’s Square, opposite the Town Hall extension and Central Library.