Dragon at den unveiled

A nine foot, two tonne sculpture of a dragon was unveiled at Brooker’s Den to put the finishing touches to a £350,000 project to provide state of the art play equipment for Runcorn's Halton Brook children.

Social landlord Riverside spearheaded the playground project using Big Lottery funding combined with their own regeneration cash, in collaboration with Halton Borough Council, which also added funds from their Playbuilder initiative.

Riverside and their landscape architects 2020 Knowsley commissioned sculptor John Merrill, who worked with children from Castleview and Holy Spirit schools on the design of the public art work, made from a 150 year old oak tree trunk.
 

Children from both schools attended the unveiling of the sculpture where they learned more about how the four piece figure was constructed and carved.
 

Community engagement officer Lorna Hughes said: “The children really enjoyed taking part in the art project. They learned a lot about the sculpture process and are proud of helping to create a lasting public art work for everyone to enjoy.”
 

Darren Whitfield of Four Estates, the local community group, liaised with the schools to get children involved in the project.
Sculptor John Merill, based in Glyn Ceiriog, sourced the oak from the edge of a nearby farmer’s field. He spent four months carving the piece. John added: “As the children play on the sculpture they will polish it and create a hardwearing surface. It should last for about 100 years.”