A Wigan community group is asking Borough Life readers to dwell on the past to give a famous local landmark a future.
The Friends of Mesnes Park hope to restore the statue of the town’s former MP, Sir Francis Sharp Powell, a rub of whose foot is said to bring good luck. But the group’s £70,000 Heritage Lottery Fund bid depends on you, as the Friends’ Colin Higham explains:
"Thousands of readers must have rubbed his foot and made a wish at some time – if you’re one of them, we’d love to hear from you. For our bid to be successful, we need to generate enough anecdotal, documentary and photographic evidence to prove just how much the Powell statue matters to Mesnes Park and the people who use it. We want to show that it is an integral part of our past that deserves to have a future.”
When Wigan’s best known former resident, actor Sir Ian McKellen, was revisiting past haunts a few years ago he made a beeline straight for the statue. Sir Ian said: "In the 1940s, our family lived opposite Mesnes Park gates in Parson’s Walk. I played hide-and-seek in the bushes and roller-skated to and from school. And I touched the Powell statue for luck. I do hope it remains firmly in place."
If you have any memories or photographs of the statue, please email Colin Higham at col.higham@tiscali.co.uk or write to him care of the parks team at 1-3 Worsley Terrace, Standishgate, Wigan WN1 1XU.
