The 'Lady in the Park' is located in the grounds of Brampton Park on Brampton Road. The life-sized sculpture, created in steel, was designed by Andy Edwards and made by PM Training and Realise.
"This life-sized sculpture in Brampton Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme, depicts a woman reading a letter informing her that a family member has been killed in action. The inspiration for the woman was Vera Brittain (1893–1970), who was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme and worked as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse for much of the First World War. Brittain’s best-selling memoir Testament of Youth (1933), described her experiences during and after the First World War, which saw the loss of her brother, fiancé and some of her closest friends.
A plaque beside the sculpture has a quote from Brittain’s Testament of Youth:
‘I sat in a tree-shadowed walk called the Brampton and meditated on the War. It was one of those shimmering autumn days when every leaf and flower seemed to scintillate with light, and I found it very hard to believe that not far away men were being slain ruthlessly. It is impossible, I concluded, to find any satisfaction in the thought of the destruction of men whether they be English, French, German or anything else, seems a crime to the whole march of civilisation.’
Unveiled in November 2014, Lady in the Park was installed to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War. Commissioned by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and made by PM Training and the Realise charity, the sculpture was fabricated from 200 sheets of steel formed into lifelike features and drapery, then treated to resemble bronze. The statue was designed by local sculptor Andy Edwards." SOURCE: (
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"A statue has been unveiled in Brampton Park to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme Linda Hailstones attended a special event on Armistice Day and said the town should be full of pride of the £20,000 statue.
The life-sized sculpture depicts a woman reading a letter sent from the Armed Forces informing her that family members had died in battle.
The Realise Foundation and Travis Perkins each contributed £10k towards the project.
Councillor Hailstones said: “It shows a real sense of pride in Newcastle-under-Lyme and we want to carry it into the future.
“It was an honour for me to unveil the statue.
“Remembrance Sunday and the event has been full of children, full of people of all ages and all dominations have joined together to remember what happened 100 years ago and what we need to take forward to the future.”
Art apprentice Callum Marchese, 16, from Mow Cop, worked alongside sculptor Andy Edwards to create the statue, which is made from a mixture of recycled and new metal.
Callum said: “I’m very proud of myself and the Artworks team.
“I can proudly say that not many 16-year-olds have sculptured a woman out of metal so I’m delighted.” As the statue was unveiled, there was a reading from the poem Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, a Newcastle-under-Lyme-born writer, who lost her fiancé Roland Leighton and her brother Edward Brittain in the First World War.
The Realise Foundation is a regeneration charity, which helps people and communities in North Staffordshire to reach their full potential, was heavily involved in the project.
Will Nixon, chief executive of the Realise Foundation, said: “It gives a fantastic environmental improvement to an already great park.
“The connection with Vera Brittain, someone that was local to this area with the museum containing a number of her writings, was a really good idea.
“The whole combination of young people being involved in making something like this, connecting all the way back 100 years, I hope in another 100 years people are still enjoying what we’ve created here.”
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