Sculpture set to shine at last

It will be officially handed over to Bognor Regis Town Council in a noon ceremony on March 19.

The seven-metre (32ft) high sculpture will tower above the junction of London Road and High Street with its depiction of the sun.

Sculptor Pete Codling, pictured above, designed the copper piece with gold leaf coating to reflect Bognor's renowed record for sunshine. His inspiration came from the Anglo Saxon queen, Bucgren, who founded the original fishing village on Bognor's site, and pagan worship of the sun.

Dramatic centrepiece of the sculpture will be a 1.5m wide hemisphere on top of the stem to represent the sun's rays. The sculpture will face southwards to greet shoppers as they enter High Street from The Arcade and capture the sun for most of the day.

Its installation will take place early one morning around March 18. A crane will lift the sculpture into place and it will be bolted into a supporting base put beneath the pavement late last year.

At the handover, Arun District Council chairman Cllr Graham Tyler will 'present' the sculpture to Bognor's town mayor, Cllr Don Eldridge.

The date of the ceremony has been chosen as close as possible to the spring equinox of March 21 when daytime and nighttime are equal. That date was ruled out because it falls on Good Friday this year.

The sculpture has been a joint project between the councils. The town council will be responsible for its maintenance in return for a 2,000 payment. Funding for the sculpture cost 28,000 from the Arts Council, among other sources.