The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Plans are in the oven to install a statue in the town centre that for nearly 20 years stood alongside the A16.
The Spalding Figures, which is more commonly known as The Bakers, stood by the McDonald’s roundabout near the Addo Food Group’s Spalding Bakery until recently.
The two aluminium resin figures which are slightly bigger than life-size were taken down after planning permission was granted for retail units on the site.
After making enquiries over its whereabouts, Spalding and District Civic Society have obtained the statue and are now looking to install it alongside its other artworks in the town centre as part of its Market Arts Project.
A spokesman for the group said on contacting Addo: “The speed and generosity of the response more than matched our hopes.
“With our partners Transported Arts and South Holland District Council officers we are working to identify a suitable town centre site and then will decide on the kind of plinth that will be appropriate for the chosen location.”
Dereham-based sculptor Neil French created the artwork which was installed in the early 2000s by the side of the A16.
Now the Civic Society want to incorporate it into the Markets Arts project designed to celebrate Spalding’s historic market and live-stock history.
The spokesman continued: “Joseph Hiller’s 14 small bronzes form a link between our market heritage and the area’s present day importance in the country’s food production and processing, as nearly every figure is of someone involved in some way.
“The Bakery sculpture will therefore complete the sequence as an emblem of the final processing of the food into pies and sausage rolls, frozen dishes and ready meals, the last stage of the journey from soil to supermarket shelves.”
