Leatherhead businesses and local authorities join forces to brighten busy town location

New ‘Scrap-Art’ Kingfisher Sculpture for the Small Roundabout at Tesco/B&Q/Get Geared/Phil You Up/Brook Way/Oxshott Road/Kingston Road in North Leatherhead (B2430 - What3words ///good.shack.yarn)

A brand new ‘Kingfisher’ sculpture made 100% from discarded items has appeared on a roundabout in North Leatherhead. Part of ongoing group efforts to improve the neglected entrances to Leatherhead, the sculpture project was funded by Western Digital UK Ltd and Mole Valley District Council, and subsidised by Fire & Iron, with traffic management support from Surrey County Council.

This roundabout is at a key ‘gateway’ entrance to Leatherhead, and it is also located right on the Rye Brook (designated main river) which flows under the southern edge of the roundabout. For many years it has been unmanaged – overgrown and choked with litter. Before this, it was part of the now defunct roundabout sponsorship scheme, and this particular roundabout was once sponsored by kitchen company ‘Heart of the Home’ who had originally landscaped it with slate chippings, some nice shrubs and a central small single rough rock feature.

Lucy Quinnell, a local business owner [Fire & Iron Gallery] and Chair of the Leatherhead & District Countryside Protection Society, had tried many times to volunteer to tidy this roundabout up but had been unable to get permission to work on it. Councillor Keira Vyvyan-Robinson (Mole Valley District Council – Leatherhead North) had taken a similar interest, and a group of interested people began to meet in 2019 at Fire & Iron Gallery to discuss the possibilities (Councillor Vyvyan-Robinson, Lucy Quinnell, Caroline Cardew-Smith [with various ‘river health’ interests], Nigel Edwards [of Western Digital UK Ltd, Kingston Road – Western Digital is an international provider of data infrastructure and storage solutions], Councillor Tim Hall [SCC], Councillor Rosemary Dickson [MVDC], Rod Shaw [Principal Conservation Officer, MVDC], and Robin Davis [Parks & Landscapes Officer, MVDC]).

During discussions over several meetings, it was suggested that it might be nice to brighten the roundabout (for the benefit of local residents, visitors and businesses) with a small and joyful metal sculpture and to use the opportunity to create an ecology-biased mood. The Rye Brook has major problems including the pollution issues highlighted in recent national news; volunteers have cleared this up as far as is possible, but there are larger issues that require professional input. It was agreed that thinning and pruning back the choked vegetation on the roundabout would also improve sight lines which have become an issue for pedestrians in recent years as the roundabout has become so overgrown. Lucy Quinnell also drew attention to the broken and missing fencing, dead trees and broken public footpath fingerpost on the pavement around the roundabout – she made a list of issues for Rod Shaw, and a new fingerpost has now been installed with help from the Lower Mole Partnership.

In December 2019 Rod Shaw successfully applied for funding to employ professional contractors to undertake an initial cutting back of the heavy, litter-filled overgrowth on the roundabout, and this work was carried out; this funding came from funds collected as part of the planning process for local environmental improvements.

Lucy Quinnell designed a kingfisher sculpture to incorporate and make sense of the rock that still stands under the brambles in the centre of the roundabout and to draw people’s attention to the immediate river wildlife. She proposed the re-use of old motorbike parts, to reflect and encourage the current national mood for recycling and as a nod to ‘Get Geared’ – the motorbike business right on the roundabout. Kingfishers are abundant on the Rye Brook and on the River Mole, and like the rest of our wonderful local wildlife they badly need everyone’s support to achieve a healthier habitat in which they can thrive.

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic led to delays and changes in the hoped-for community participation in this project, but the artwork was completed by May 2021. It was made to Lucy’s concept drawing by Fire & Iron blacksmith Adam Boydell, who first assembled numerous scrap items that echoed the various shapes within the kingfisher and the tree on which it perches. The making process took several months, subsidised by Fire & Iron, and once the shape was complete the whole sculpture was rustproofed in Sussex by zinc flame metallisation before being painted at Fire & Iron by Adam with Tom and Lucy Quinnell.

Surrey Highways assisted with safety measures to enable installation, liaising with Councillor Keira Vyvyan-Robinson. The vegetation on the roundabout has been thinned but revived and deliberately retained to function as a mini wildlife zone.

The pandemic and the 2021 COP26 climate change summit highlighted yet further the crucial importance of local ecology, of recycling themes, of caring for our townscapes, and of pulling together to brighten life for everyone in the community. Since the idea started to grow, Tesco celebrated the 30th birthday of its Leatherhead store, B&Q pointed out its own links with kingfishers (Kingfisher plc), Lucy spoke to a very enthusiastic Georg Braun – founder and managing director of motorbike clothing specialist Get Geared, and celebrated burger van Phil You Up continues to thrive right by the roundabout concerned. This dynamic cluster and those close to them are becoming a vibrant part of the wider area, and it is hoped that the enhanced roundabout will be much more fitting and inspiring as a focal point for so many businesses large and small.

“It can be frustratingly slow to achieve even modest improvements in a modern era of restrictions and regulations, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Thanks to the group of people who were so committed to getting something positive done, we can at last celebrate another small step in the right direction. There is still so much to do, but we hope this encourages everyone to keep joining in with all the local environmental efforts, and we also hope it makes people smile!” ~ Lucy Quinnell

The overall height of the sculpture is approximately 2100mm.

It is made from 100% re-used objects:

BODY: Yamaha DT50 fuel tank

WINGS: Cut from sides of a Yamaha TY80 fuel tank

TAIL: Tail-end of rear mudguard from Moto Guzzi 1000SP with rearmost section of a Yamaha TY80 fuel tank plus an ancient wrought iron scroll found by archaeologists digging at Rowhurst Forge

CHEST/BELLY: Part of a mid-1900s lorry cab found in Teazle Wood, blended into part of a fire extinguisher and a section of a rear mudguard from a 1970s Triumph T140V Bonneville

HEAD: 1 x 4-litre and 2 x 3-litre fuel tanks from Mobylette motorised bicycles

EYES: Front drive-sprockets from 125cc ‘pit bikes’

BEAK: 2 x ‘SPUR’ shelf brackets

TREE-TRUNK AND BRANCHES: Dumped scaffolding tubes, wheelbarrow frame tubes, motorcycle exhaust header tubes, part of a prototype trophy for Leatherhead Drama festival, broken shank from a garden spade, assorted sections of gas-barrel tubing

BASE FRAME: Remains of background frames from Fire & Iron’s gold medal-winning garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, left-over metal scraps from the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, and also from the Kingston Road Recreation Ground park benches and hand arches project (created with students from Therfield School)

LEAVES: Cut and re-forged from sections of rusty scrap angle-iron

STEMS: Old gas-barrel tubing, scrap garden fork tines, left-over scrap metal from various historical Rowhurst Forge projects