News

Brighton Bandstand now in Buxton!

Despite the usual wet and windy weather, the famous 1884 bandstand on Brighton sea front was successfully dismantled and moved to our works about ten days ago. It looks a mess but it won’t do by the time we’ve finished with it! The roof design is unique and so different from the usual Victorian designs that I’m going to do a little article on it on this site sometime soon.

Paint analysis reveals 40 old coats of paint!

All the castings are big  - the columns are 1.25 tonnes apiece - and braced together so rigidly that they were immune to anything the last 120 years could throw at them, the odd hurricane included. The balustrades, gutters and ‘frilly bits’ are in a mess but the main components look good. More to follow…….

One coat of paint and much crisper castings.

The column capitals were made in eight sections and pinned on afterwards. The design is a curious mixture!

Casting without patterns!

Casting in metal can be tricky at the best of times but at least we usually have casting patterns to work from - basically wooden models of whatever we want to create. Over the last month, we’ve had to make a range of large architectural castings without any patterns at all! The projects involved replicating existing castings in a Burnley park and on the facade of an ASDA store in Co Durham, but the original suppliers and their patterns had long ago disappeared.

Using only cleaned-up old castings, we’ve managed to mould and cast new columns, spandrels, beams and pendant posts, a great credit to Steve Thorpe and his team in our aluminium foundry.

Pendant column and 3500mm crossbeam - cast without patterns

 Another steam locomotive takes shape

In a rather cluttered corner of our erecting shop, the once derelict and rusting hulk of a World War 1 trenches locomotive is now well on the way to full restoration. Built by Kerr Stuart in Stoke in 1917, it was sent to France and went to work in a quarry when the war was over. It then spent nearly fifty years doing absolutely nothing before being bought by a preservation group. A new boiler has been ordered and it is hoped to have the loco in regular use at the Moseley Railway Trust’s Apedale, Staffs HQ by late 2010.

Just the boiler, tanks, cab, fittings......to go!

A six-wheeled 2ft gauge loco weighing about 9 tonnes, No 3014 was built for the network of behind-the-lines railways ferrying ammunition, supplies and drinking water for the artillery and infantry in WW1

Despite the credit crunch and overall air of gloom, we’re keeping busy. Our friends in the street furniture trade tell us that trade for them is very patchy with less major projects under way. Our sculptor friends still have lots of work but new public commissions are not plentiful.

Here’s a little summary of our recent news:

For the first time in years, we’ve exhibited at shows - Arts Fairs in Buxton and Sheffield. We do this not with the intention of selling anything but to make contacts with artists in different media so that we can learn from other craftspeople and collaborate on projects in the future. The Sheffield Fair was under canvas during the now-traditional August Monsoon whereas Buxton was held in the magnificent Dome - one of the largest unsupported domes in Europe and the source of some incredible acoustics whereby people talking quietly a hundred feet away could be heard perfectly!

Two large architectural metalwork projects have just started (see separate stories for details). These are the creation of a new and decorative cast aluminium open market in Bedford and the complete refurbishment of the famous Brighton Bandstand, adjacent to the gaunt skeleton of the West Pier.

Our bronze foundry is set for a busy six months with a wide range of work - balustrades and grilles for a large house in Cheshire, an abstract sculpture for Coventry, large history panels for Burntisland in Fife and sculptural work for our friends and neighbours Castle Fine Arts.

Signs and plaques continue to provide our bread-and-butter. Recent projects include Welcome signs for Colne Valley in Lancs, new nameplates for locomotives on the Manx Electric Railway, and an attractive bronze for Marple in Cheshire.

As ever, one-off projects continue to materialise. We’re just finishing some brass church windows for a beautiful little church in Warwickshire ; a very early Baguley petrol locomotive is being stripped down for a rebuild ; and we’ve just completed some large ductile iron floor lettering for Silvertown in the East End.

And finally… we had a memory-jerking steam boat holiday in Scotland with Chris Topp of Chris Topp & Co, masters of real wrought iron and Dave Hodgson of Dorothea Restorations. We’ve been friends (and occasionally competitors) since school days - rather more years than we like to count!

Ted & Sue McAvoy, Leander Architectural

These two photos show little elements of a large oval bronze plaque for a Stockport MBC lottery-funded park scheme. The pictorial elements were traced meticulously from old faded photo prints and then etched to produce a casting pattern.

What do Mrs Fred Dibnah, Sir Ian McKellen, Jimmy Hill and the Bee Gees have in common? Tricky isn’t it? Well, they’re all due to unveil Leander commemorative plaques over the next three weeks. Four bronze plaques will be fixed to the base of the new Fred Dibnah sculpture in Bolton, Sir Ian is unveiling a plaque at the Garrick Theatre, Stockport and the Bee Gees will arrive in Westminster next week to commemorate the site of their recording studios. Later in May, Jimmy Hill will join David Moorecroft, the Specials and Pete Waterman for the launch of Coventry’s ‘Walk of Fame’ - a set of 11 floor-mounted bronzes. Unfortunately, Lady Godiva is unable to attend!

In 2007, Leander were commisssioned to produce a large etched stainless steel toposcope in the form of a ring of viewpoint panels mounted on a continuous masonry plinth. Stretched end to end, the panels would cover 14 metres and they provide an excellent depiction of the (almost) 360 degree view from the top of Coles Hill. One of the major high points visible from here is Brown Clee in Shropshire where we installed a cast bronze toposcope in 2006!

Further toposcopes are under way for Rochdale, Oldham and British Waterways, Foxton Locks, Leicestershire.

(The Coles Hill toposcope is being installed in April and pictures will follow)