CITY residents are being asked to pick from a list of eight famous faces from Worcester’s past to feature as statues in the revamped £500,000 Cornmarket development.
King Charles II, the author Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare are just a few of the names that have been put forward for the public to vote on by Worcestershire County Council.
However city residents are also being invited to nominate any other local personalities from Worcester’s past they would like to see commemorated in this way.
The plan is to incorporate at least four metal art silhouettes of renowned characters and to have them standing in the new square, just as they might have done when they were alive.
The artwork, titled The People, will be similar in size and style to the metallic sculptures near the Diglis Bridge in Worcester.
The eight famous names put forward by Worcestershire County Council are:
Vesta Tilley (Matilda Alice Powles), a music hall star born in Worcester in 1864 who was once one of the world’s best paid women entertainers
Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, nicknamed ‘Woodbine Willie’, the vicar of St Paul’s Church who in 1915 was given permission by the Bishop of Worcester to become an army chaplain. He earned his nickname by giving out the Bible and packets of Woodbine cigarettes to send off soldiers on the troop trains at Rouen in France
King Charles II, who hid in King Charles House in New Street before fleeing to France at a time when Worcester was the setting for the last English Civil War conflicts between the Royalists and Parliamentarians
Antonin Dvorak, the Czech composer who conducted his choral work, the Stabat Mater, to great acclaim in the Public Hall in the Cornmarket in 1884
Charles Dickens, who visited the Public Hall in the Cornmarket twice in 1867 to read his works
William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, who records suggest married at St Martin’s in the Cornmarket. This was hastily arranged as Anne was believed to be with child
Jenny Lind – the ‘Swedish Nightingale’ who sang in the Public Hall to raise funds for the chapel to be built at Worcester Royal Infirmary
County Council spokesman, Jon Fraser, said: “We want people to tell us their three favourite personalities from Worcester’s history who they would like to see standing as silhouette-statues in the Cornmarket in the future.
“We are sure that these statues will greatly enhance the character of the Cornmarket once they are in place and are sure to be a talking point for residents and visitors.”
City residents can submit their votes at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cornmarket or respond to one of the leaflets which have been sent to businesses in the area.
The closing date for preferences is May 31.
Visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cornmarket for information and updates on the revamp.
