Phil Gillam: Celebrating our local heroes

Admiral Benbow? Well, we have a pub named after him.

Charles Darwin? We have a shopping centre named after him.

Highly respected novelist Mary Webb. Is there anything anywhere to mark the fact she once lived in Meole Brace, set parts of her wonderful books in Shrewsbury, and used to frequently walk to Shrewsbury Market to sell her garden produce?

And then there's the great poet of the First World War, Wilfred Owen. Yes, I do know he was born in Oswestry, but he and his family moved to Shrewsbury where they had houses in three locations including in Monkmoor Road. Owen's father worked at Shrewsbury railway station. The county town has always looked upon the man as one of her own.

Ah, now. Listen up.

When it comes to Wilfred Owen, I've just heard from a writer and sculptor who might very well be able to help in this regard.

Anthony Padgett says: "During my recent artist's residency at the Museum of Lancashire I created a bust of the poet Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918, with the full approval of the Wilfred Owen Association. My proposal is to donate the sculpture for a site in Shrewsbury with no costs to the town – though any help (particularly if the work was sited outdoors) would be very gratefully received. Most important for me is the honour of having the work sited in such an appropriate location. Any help in please finding a home for the bust would be very appreciated.

"Owen spent many years in Shrewsbury and the many letters that he wrote to his mother are addressed to here. it is also where his mother received the telegram of his death one week before the end of the war."

Mr Padgett points out the properties important in Owen's life are:

1897-1900 - Wilmot House, 54 Canon St.

1907-1910 - 1 Cleveland Place.

1910–1918 - Mahim, 69 (was 71) Monkmoor Road.

Mr Padgett goes on to say: "The bust is in a figurative style, characteristic of many artworks from the period in which he lived, and echoes the bust of the poet Keats, whom Owen admired. It is built onto a World War One shell case and is based on extensive research of biographies and photographs of Owen and has correct military badges and buttons. It also has a base which has items associated with Owen's life within a cap – book, pistol, shell case and military cross.

"There will be five busts located at key places in Owen's life with one already in the War Poets Collection at Craiglockhart, Edinburgh (where Owen was treated for "shell-shock" and met fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon) and one was presented by Peter Owen (the nephew of Wilfred) to Jacky Duminy, the mayor of Ors, France, the village where Owen was killed (one week before the end of the war) and is buried."

Mr Padgett is currently approaching Shrewsbury Civic Society, Shrewsbury Library, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, Arriva Trains Wales, Shrewsbury Town Council, Shrewsbury Abbey and other interested parties to see what the next step might be.

Well now. The bust we are talking about is in cold cast bronze in life-size proportions and looks rather splendid.

I think a tasteful sculpture of the great man is a fine idea.

Better than naming a shopping centre after him!