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Colin Telfer worked at the West Cumbrian pits for 20 years. He was a winder/engine man working on the pit top, with experience at Risehow, Lowca and Solway collieries, and he also worked for a time at Distington Engineering at Workington. After being made redundant, he enrolled on a two-year course at Carlisle art college - now the Cumbria Institute - to retrain as a sign-writer. While there he started to play around with clay and soon developed his own ideas, making small mining sculptures using coal dust. About 15 years ago he received his first major contract at Egremont and has been sculpting ever since. Most of his work is made from a mixture of iron ore dust from Florence Mine in Egremont, and resin. Others also include slate or coal. Colin’s figures start life as a wooden framework, covered in foam filler, then clay which he buys from Wetheriggs Pottery. They are sanded, rubbed down with wire wool then finished with Colin’s own-recipe coating mixture which contains graphite and slate powder and polishes up to a gleaming finish. |
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Opposite Lowes Court Gallery are two sculptures by Colin Telfer commemorating the towns history of iron ore mining. |
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A millenium project has been to install a new statue of St Bega arriving by boat from Ireland. The names of all villagers have been written on a scroll and this, along with other objects, have been placed in a Time Capsule which was buried under the base of the St Bega statue, which is situated near the railway station. |
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On 17th June 2005 a sculpture 'The End of an Era' was unveiled near the Beacon, as a memorial to the town's
mining history.
It is a unique mix of coal, slate and casting resin, and features a pillar of coal with four figures – a deputy overman, representing mine management; a mines rescue man, representing safety and rescue work; a coal face worker, showing manpower; and a screenlass, to illustrate hardship and poverty. |
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Opposite the Maritime Museum is 'A Fishy Tail ' - a sculpture by Colin Telfer, whose workshop is in Maryport, commemorating the town's history of mining. |
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At the entrance to the Flimby industrial estate, is this memorial to local miners. |
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The War Memorial in Cleator Moor Square shows a nurse tending a wounded soldier, and is dedicated to those whose lives were sacrificed in all conflicts. |
In Great Clifton, situated on the playground at the heart of the village, near the Lion’s Club is a sculpture made from resin, slate and coal. It is entitled 'Oft Road', and depicts a hard-working miner lifting a tub of coal back on to the road. |
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Millom has a statue commemorating the town's iron industry. The statue is of 'The Scutcher', (the man who stopped the iron ore tubs with an iron bar and his own strength). The plinth, with its sandstone carvings, was designed by Will Todd of Grizebeck. |
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The 'Miners' sculpture at Red Man’s Way, Barrow-in-Furness, depicts two lifesize figures of mine workers returning home from work, each carrying a carbide lamp. Each figure weighs about 30 stone and has been cast using a resin and iron ore mix. They stand on a plinth of St Bees sandstone. The wealth of Barrow was based on the rich haematite mines of Furness - at Lindal, Swarthmoor, Askam, Park, Dalton, Newton, Stank and Roanhead. Because of the colour of the iron ore, the miners were known as the red men. |
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Page created 20 Dec 2005. Last changed 4 Jan 2006.