New statue on Colchester High Street next to Mc Donalds

The statue, which will immortalise sisters Jane and Ann Taylor, will be put up next to Tesco.

Funding for the statue is still £10,000 short but Sir Bob Russell, who is championing the effort, believes the shortfall will be covered. 

The Taylor sisters wrote the iconic poem Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in Colchester in 1806.

The statue was cast in clay last year by Ardleigh sculptor, Mandy Pratt, with a mould made by mould maker Des Stanley, of Great Tey.

The total cost of installing the statue on the High Street will be £80,000, of which the funding is still £10,000 short.

Sir Bob said: “This is a leap of faith. Delay until the rest of the money is raised will, unfortunately, see the price increase because of higher energy costs at the foundry and the prospect of a higher price for bronze.

“The decision has been made to proceed with the casting, with the hope that the rest of the money will have been raised before the final bill is due. If not, the shortfall will have to be borrowed.”

With hopes to raise further funds, he has distributed about 100 brochures to businesses in Colchester City centre, in hopes that donations will help the initiative reach its funding target.

On the benefits of funding the statue, Sir Bob Russell said: “Generous donations have been made by Tesco and McDonald’s, the two businesses nearest to where the statue will be sited in High Street diagonally opposite the Town Hall, on the wide pavement to the east of Pelham’s Lane. Colchester solicitors Ellisons have also donated.

“If the statue becomes a tourist attraction, which I am confident it will be, then it is City centre businesses who will benefit economically, particularly those in the hospitality sector.”

The two sisters lived with their parents in West Stockwell Street, then known as Angel Lane, from 1796, to 1811.

The statue is to be dedicated to ‘the children of the world’, with Sir Bob donating the intellectual property rights to the Mayor of Colchester.