Six local businesses signed up to sponsor statues on the Bridgnorth Statue Trail at a ceremony held at Holden’s Brewery in November. Representatives from Bridgnorth Aluminium, Alfa Travel, Grainger and Worrall Ltd/the Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology, Bridgnorth Rugby Club, Holden’s Brewery and AV Birch Ltd pledged up to £2,000 each.
The trail, which is due to open later this year, aims to site up to 15 cast-iron statues around Bridgnorth. The statues will be in the shape of the Catch Me Who Can steam locomotive, the world’s first fare-paying passenger engine built in Bridgnorth in 1808 for Richard Trevithick, and they will be decorated by local artists.
Karen Sawbridge of Alfa Travel, who’s also chair of Bridgnorth Rugby Club (BRC), said, “BRC are proud to be sponsoring the trail and we hope to host one of the statues on Severn Park where they train every week.”
Holden’s Brewery was chosen as the venue due to the company’s close ties with Bridgnorth – Holden’s recently purchased and renovated the Golden Lion pub in Bridgnorth High Street, and sibling directors Abbi Kemp and Jonathan Holden grew up in and around Bridgnorth.
“We’ve always wanted to create closer ties between Holden’s Brewery and Bridgnorth,” said Mr Holden. “Sponsoring one of the statues seemed an obvious step.”
The statues were originally to be made of fibreglass, but local firm Grainger and Worrall stepped in with an offer to cast the design in iron, which will save a large part of the costs. The company is also sponsoring a statue themselves.
