After an eight year campaign, a statue of Nottingham’s world famous boxer Bendigo will soon be a reality.
Since we set up the Bendigo Heritage Project in 2016, we have drawn together the Bendigo story and presented it to a new and wider audience. He have hosted and appeared at events and established a guided walking tour for visitors to Nottingham.
We have also established a collection of images and items for a small exhibition called The Bendigo Gallery. This has been shown at various venues across the city.
We are thrilled to announce that the project has now raised the money necessary to commission a new bronze statue that will take pride of place in Nottingham City Centre and finally put Bendigo on the map.
The sculptor chosen to create this public monument is Andy Edwards the renowned British sculptor who has also supported the project from the beginning, having created a maquette of Bendigo to help promote the project at events.
Alan Dawson, trustee of the Bendigo Heritage Project said:
We have worked hard to make Bendigo accessible to future generations. Much of his physical legacy has gone, but his name lives on. Nottingham is a very different place, compared to the harsh reality of life in the overcrowded slums of the town two hundred years ago.
Bendigo is a unique name for a unique man who has featured in books, films and theatre. He is still talked about and written about. There was even a children’s book published in Australia recently. It is called Go Bendy Go – The Boy Who Liked To Box. His name just refuses to go away.
Jevon Patrick, trustee of the Bendigo Heritage Protect said:
I can’t wait for the city to embrace the Bendigo story. The statue will mean so much to so many people in Nottingham. Bendigo was a true underdog and his story still inspires many of us in the ‘rebel city’.
Andy Edwards said:
I have become very personally attached to this project over the last eight years.There’s a remarkable story to be told around William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson. It’s a hero’s story and Bendigo is exactly the kind of inspirational figure who can still inspire and be relevant today. A superb athlete and unique entertainer, he became boxing champion at a time when industrial working communities were first forming, the toughest of times.
His striking image in bronze statuary will stand for strength, determination and resilience not just as a vital part of our islands’ history and Nottingham’s proud standing centrally to that. His statue will be a new international landmark and an invitation to learn about a fascinating period and its characters.
How Was The Money Raised?
Alan Dawson said:
Statues cost a lot of money and we knew that the fundraising would take time. The statues of Nottingham’s famous football managers, Brian Clough and Jimmy Sirrell took several years to be created, and their names are still in the memory of thousands of football supporters. Bendigo was from a different time, when the sport of boxing was developing to what it is now.
We weren’t sure where the money would come from but were determined to keep going. Our patience paid off when we were contacted by a private individual who, like us, thinks that Bendigo deserves a statue for future generations to see and admire.
Our benefactor will fund the statue project entirely and as a result we can now get to work on what it will look like and where it will be placed.
The Sculptor
On Monday 2nd September the trustees travelled to Liverpool to meet with the man who will create our statue of ‘Bold Bendigo’.
Andy Edwards is a renowned British Sculptor of international note. Based in Stoke on Trent and Liverpool, he has a wealth of experience in sculpting large scale monumental public art of the highest quality. The sculptures are of famous people and moments in world history.
Jevon Patrick said:
Going to Liverpool and meeting with the sculptor is making everything seem very real now. This is a vision that we’ve had for many years – and we’re thrilled that the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. Whether you’re new to the Bendigo story or not, the statue will be a monument that we can all appreciate and enjoy.
Alan Dawson said:
Andy (Edwards) has supported our project from the start. When we discussed his incredible work with our financial backer, we agreed that Andy was the person to create our statue. The maquette he made for us is an example of his skills as a sculptor.
He has a proven record of representing figures from the world of sport. Whilst Bendigo’s career was before photography, and a limited amount of images of him availabke, we know that he will produce something incredible.
Andy Edwards said:
At our meeting in Liverpool, the Bendigo project team were able to understand my experience of creating over 50 statues across the UK and around the world. My aim is always to make something rigorously authentic, educational and elegantly beautiful.
As well as deploying time-honoured traditional skills in modelling, enlarging and casting my design, I have already engaged the latest digital forensic science in recreating Bendigo’s likeness, using sketches and posters nearly 200 years old.
It is a process I care very much about and is going to be a real labour of love, as well as a great honour for me.
