Elephant mosaic given the go-ahead as part of Bishop's Castle sculpture trail
Community planners in Bishop's Castle have been given the go-ahead to start the latest aspect of their project.
Bishop's Castle Elephant Sculpture Trail planners have secured permission from the town council to hang a large, mosaic, stained glass elephant panel inside one of the windows in the town hall.
The stained glass elephant will be made up of many hand-painted glass tiles, each created by members of the public, during workshops at the Bishop's Castle Arts Festival early next year.
Earlier this year, planners restarted their bid for funding from the town council for their project: to install one life-size elephant in the town centre, along with a number of smaller elephant sculptures around the town to create a trail for visitors to follow.
Organisers hope the trail will bring in more footfall to the picturesque rural town, which has been linked to the larger-than-life animal since it was believed they were kept there during the Second World War.
Fantastic
Keith Whiddon, elephant sculpture trail committee member, said the mosaic will be included in the trail as they gradually start to make progress.
He said: "Helen Robinson, a fantastic stained glass artist in the town, has agreed to run workshops so that people in the Bishop's Castle community can make a tile each during the arts festival.
"We will also visit schools and allow children to take part in the creation as well. It might take a while to get all the panels secured because it will be quite large.
"The arts festival is sponsoring it. It will be part of the sculpture trail, alongside the Wintles mammoth and the elephant outside the Castle Hotel. We are gradually starting to build the trail up."
The group have many more ideas for future sculptures and are concentrating on crowdfunding at the moment.
