Upset at plan for acrobats

From the archive, first published Saturday 22nd Oct 2005.

FORMER railway workers were upset to hear a town centre landmark was being moved.

Tony Huzzey, a former railway worker and once the leader of Thamesdown Council, thinks The Blondinis acrobat statue should stay in a prominent position in the town.

The 17ft statue, which is due to be moved from the grassed area at Wharf Green between Canal Walk and Market Street, was one of the last pieces of metal cast at the railway works which shut in 1986.

But Swindon Council thinks the acrobat does not fit in with plans to spruce up Wharf Green and says it is looking at putting it in the Steam Museum.

But Mr Huzzey thinks it should stay on display in the town centre.

"It was the last major item to leave the railway works and demonstrates the skill of the workers in there," he said.

"It was dedicated to the town by those men to show their feelings for the town."

Mr Huzzey met old colleagues after the council announced it was taking the statue down, without a definite new site for it.

"They were extremely disappointed," he said. "They feel hurt and insulted."

The former workers would like to see the statue put back up either outside the designer outlet village or close to the old town hall when it is developed into the new central library.

They also want a plaque put on the statue explaining where it was made.

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