Skip to content

Sculpture trail unveiled to help regenerate town

Andrew Turner
BBC News, Norfolk
Reporting fromGreat Yarmouth
Andrew Turner/BBC Yarn with Ernie, a bronze work in honour of local artist and potter Ernie Childs, installed in the Market Place. He is standing next to a barrel of herring.Andrew Turner/BBC
Andrew Turner/BBC A four-armed, two legged sculpture painted in concentric bands (from outer to inner) red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The design has a ball in the middle and on the tips of all four arms. Andrew Turner/BBC
Yarn with Ernie was installed in the Market Place in honour of local artist and potter Ernie Childs
The Juggler, in St George's Park, represented Great Yarmouth's heritage in the circus performance industry

A sculpture trail aimed at regenerating a Norfolk town through art and culture will be officially unveiled on Friday.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council invested £380,000 in the project, largely through the government's Town Deal Fund.

Artworks commissioned by local, national and international artists have been installed over the past six weeks.

Councillor Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: ''The new trail is simply fantastic. I, like many others, have watched it take shape over the past few months and am delighted it is now complete."

The pieces all celebrated the best of Great Yarmouth, from its role as a circus capital, its maritime and medieval history, through to its embrace of clean energy and transport links.

The launch will start at midday with a ceremonial unveiling of the "Yarn with Ernie" sculpture - created in honour of local artist and potter Ernie Childs - in the town's recently revamped Market Place.

A walking tour of the sculptures will take place, with members of the public invited to join civic dignitaries, including High Steward of Great Yarmouth Henry Cator OBE, who is chair of the Great Yarmouth Town Deal Board.

A number of the artists who created the pieces will also be at the launch to talk to people about their works.

Andrew Turner/BBC Lois Cordelia smiling, next to her artwork; a black horse painted with images of Black Beauty and author Anna Sewell.Andrew Turner/BBC
Artist Lois Cordelia painted images of Black Beauty author Anna Sewell in Great Yarmouth's market

Among the guests will be a representative of the Ukrainian Embassy, attending in honour of Alex Lidagovsky - whose seven-metre-tall Tightrope Walker is the UK's first permanent sculpture by a Ukrainian artist.

Mr Lidagovsky was forced to leave Kyiv after the Russian invasion in 2022. His studio was subsequently bombed before he arrived in the UK.

The trail also featured a unique section of tiled paving outside Christchurch created by Great Yarmouth's Reprezent Project to reflect the cultural impact of the town's Portuguese community.

It is the only piece of traditional Portuguese pavement art - or Calçada Portuguesa - in the UK, and depicts Phillippa of Lancaster, who became Queen of Portugal through marriage to King Joao I.

Great Yarmouth Heritage Guides will be on hand to lead tours and distribute free maps of the route.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.