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Work to refurbish a recognisable South Ribble sculpture led to false alarm calls by well-intentioned and protective members of the public.
Bobby the Iron Horse sits at the roundabout connecting Longmeaney Gate and Schleswig Way in Leyland and was erected as a tribute to horses employed to move heavy goods.
South Ribble Borough Council is working with Leyland in Bloom volunteers to give the sculpture a clean – with Banks-based business Wheelwrights Shop brought in to rebuild the wheels on the 100-year-old cart.
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Phil Gregson, owner of Wheelwrights Shop and undertaking the work on the wheels, told Blog Preston: “The original wagon is over 100 years old, and the wheels now need rebuilding before they collapse completely.
“The wheels are waterlogged at the moment so will be dried out in a specialised kiln over the next few weeks before repair work can start.”
The work began late last week and the removal of the wheels even sparked some concern in the community.
Lancashire Constabulary told Blog Preston they received calls on Friday (28 February) afternoon that they described as ‘well-intentioned’. South Ribble Borough Council confirmed that the work began on Monday (24 February) and that they had tried to reassure the public ahead of time by posting on Facebook.
Phil added: “There was a lot of community concern over the removal of the wheels, and rightly so, the police had multiple calls from concerned passers by and came to check my credentials.
“It didn’t help that my van broke down so I turned up in my motorhome to pick them up.”
Phil’s family have been working on wheels for four generations and Phil, at 42, is the youngest Master Wheelwright in the country.
He said: “I am one of only a handful of Master Wheelwrights left in the UK now and only local to Leyland. My work takes me all over the world though, and has seen me working with top celebrities such as Matt Baker, Ant Middleton and the wonderful Sir David Jason.”
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