Festival in Cheltenham

We recently attended a festival in Cheltenham....more about the actual festival in the next post. However I did manage to grab some spare time and have a wander round with my camera. I love looking round somewhere new, often focusing on the buildings and statues. This time it was the statues and art that caught my eyes,  from the Neptune's Fountain which was made from Portland stone in 1893 by a local sculptor R. L. Boulton and depicts Neptune being drawn by sea horses.........

............. To the graffiti found at ground level near the church.

The clock in the shopping centre reminded me of something similaar but for the life of me I can't think what!! OOhh , I've just looked it up and it was designed by Kit Williams which will be why I thought it looked familliar.
And it says 'Weighing in at three tons and boasting a mechanism 14 metres long, the Wishing Fish Clock is thought to be the tallest mechanical clock in the world. It's also very popular. Every year, over a quarter a million visitors watch its amusing hourly cycle, which culminates in a 12-feet fish blowing bubbles at the onlookers to the sound of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
I didn't get to see it blowing bubbles though...sad face !

In another arcade I found a bronze bust of Brian Jones if the Rolling Stones who was born in Cheltenham in 1942. The Sculptor is Maurice Juggins.

Cheltenham folk certainly like to put artwork in their shopping arcades, I found this horse statue in one.

 I found this information on the Internet....

 The sculpture was made by PJ Crook and cast by 3DEye. The decoration and embellishment was applied by Carrie Reichardt and Nick Reynolds to turn it into a masterful Trojan horse. Its head has been transformed into a skull and the body is covered in intricate mosaic telling the history of the horse including thought-provoking facts about how people have used and worked with horses in the past.

And how about aeroplanes ???

 The plaque states ' Britain's first jet aircraft, the Gloster E28/39 which had its maiden flight on 15th May 1941 was built on this site. Dowty-Gheltenham's largest industrial group-supplied the landing gear.

Model made and presented by Apprentices of the Dowty Group.

 OOps, nearly forgot the The Minotaur and the Hare, a sculpture by Sophie Ryder.

There were other plaques and inscriptions dotted around the town but these were the ones that really caught my eyes on a cold and wet Bank Holiday here in the UK .

More about the actual Festival in the next post.

Have a good weekend x