On the evening of Monday 24 April 2023, the long awaited unveiling of the first two fruit sculptures took place in The Tasting Garden.

David Morgan (Lancaster Civic Vision Deputy Chair and Communications Lead) has kindly written a press release of the event. Click here to read the press release. David also made a video of the ceremony. This can be accessed from a link in the press release.

Some other photos were taken at the event and these are in the slideshow below.

On Friday 24 March 2023 the Czar plum and Swan’s Egg pear sculptures were installed in The Tasting Garden. What you see in the photos below is a sneak preview. The sculptures will be covered over until the end of April when there will be a small ceremony to unveil them officially.

The installation was in two stages. The first was to install the new plinths. The second was to fix the sculptures to them.

The work was undertaken by a team from Kenneth A Fraser Ltd, monumental sculptors. Alan Ward oversaw the fixing of the sculptures to the plinths.

There were a lot of photos taken by Chris Wright who was on hand to record the action.

The photos have been split into two slideshows. The first shows the instillation on the plinths in The Tasting Garden. The second shows the fixing of the sculptures to the plinths.

Alan Ward has engraved the names of the Czar and Swan’s Egg fruit sculptures on the two plinths.

There had been some discussion whether the engraving would be performed at Alan’s studio in Lancaster Castle or in The Tasting Garden after the plinths had been installed.

In the end, Alan did the engraving outside his studio. The next stage will be to install the plinths in the garden.

Chris Wright was on hand to record Alan in action. See the photos below.

The final versions of the stalks for the Czar plum and Swan’s Egg pear sculptures have been produced by Lancaster University and delivered by Professor Andrew Kennedy to Alan Ward.

Below is a photo of the stalks sitting in position on the sculptures.

To be complete, the new fruit sculptures need to have stalks fitted.  The initial thinking was that the stalks would be made of wood.  It was then realised that the wood would swell in wet weather causing the sculptures to crack.  Thus an alternative solution was needed.

To assist us, we have collaborated with Lancaster University Engineering Department.  An intern Estelle Seeliger under the supervision of Professor Andrew Kennedy has been responsible for the project to find the best solution.

The first stage was to develop prototypes using 3D printing (of different materials) and casting (also using different materials).  Six prototypes were produced.  Estelle and Andrew visited Alan Ward at his studio in Lancaster Castle in order to assess the various prototypes with the sculptures.

From these prototypes it was decided to proceed with the casting method rather than the 3D printing approach.  This decision was for reasons of cost, durability and aesthetics. 

The second stage was to create further prototypes using the casting method.  A variety of different epoxy resins and Portland stone mixes, together with different finishes were explored.  Again Estelle and Andrew visited Alan Ward to assess these prototypes.  From these prototypes a final option was chosen.  

Lancaster University will continue to collaborate on the project for subsequent sculptures and advise on the installation of the sculptures.

FOSG wish to record their thanks to Estelle Seeliger and Professor Andrew Kennedy for their assistance with this project.

See below some photographs of the two visits to Alan Ward’s studio and the last photo shows the sculptures with the final selected prototype stalks.

The Friends of the Storey Gardens (FOSG) have received an award from the Lancaster University Community Benefits Fund towards the recreation of The Tasting Garden. 

The amount received will enable us to purchase two further replacement sandstone plinths for fruit sculptures.  We do not currently have the remaining funds for the sculptures themselves but the cost of producing a sculpture is significantly less than the cost of a plinth.

Once the two new plinths have been purchased and delivered, we will install all four plinths in The Tasting Garden.  After this Alan Ward will engrave the names of all four fruits on the plinths.  Then the two fruit sculptures already created by Alan will be fixed to their plinths.  This will leave four new plinths in the garden, two with sculptures and two without.

The location of the two new plinths has yet to be finalised but one will probably be in the Apple path and the other in the Cherry path.  Thus we will have one new plinth in each of the four paths.

We hope to have all this work completed by the end of spring 2023.

Below is a photo of the Lord Suffield apple tree.  It is a possible location for the plinth in the Apple path.

This week Lancaster City Council staff have removed the existing concrete plinth by the Swan’s Egg pear tree. The old plinth for the Czar plum was removed in May 2022. Click here to read that post.

Also, on 27 September 2022 we reported that that Alan Ward has completed both the Swan’s Egg pear and Czar plum sculptures. Click here to read that post.

The next step is to install the new Sandstone plinths alongside these trees in The Tasting Garden. After this, Alan will engrave the names of the fruits on the plinths and the sculptures will then be fitted onto the plinths. We will keep you informed of progress.

There are no photographs of the Swan’s Egg pear plinth being removed. We do, however, have photos of the plinth next to the pear tree prior to removal and the tree again but with the plinth no longer present. There are also photos of the plinth in two pieces at the bottom of the Garden awaiting removal. See the slideshow below.

Alan Ward has completed the sculpture of the Czar plum. He has also made the wooden stalks for both the Swan’s Egg pear and the Czar plum.

Chris Wright has taken photographs of Alan polishing the Czar plum sculpture and also a photograph of both fruit sculptures with their wooden stalks in place.

Alan Ward has been making progress on the second fruit sculpture, Czar plum, in his studio in Lancaster Castle.

Chris Wright has visited him on a number of occasions to photograph how the work is taking shape.

See the short slideshow below.

Lancaster based sculptor, Alan Ward has started work on the second of the replacement stone fruit sculptures – the Czar plum. The sculpture is being carved from Portland stone. Alan is working from a polystyrene model created by artist Robert Williams.

Chris Wright has been back to Alan’s studio in Lancaster Castle to photograph the early stages. See the slideshow below.

Alan Ward has completed the sculpture of the Swan’s Egg pear. At the bottom of this post are photographs Chris Wright has taken showing Alan making the finishing touches. There is a circular depression at the top of the fruit sculpture. This is where the wooden stalk will be fitted.

There is still work to be done before the sculpture can go on display in The Tasting Garden.

The existing plinth next to the Swan’s Egg tree in the garden has to be removed and the new plinth made of sandstone installed. Then Alan will inscribe the name the fruit on the plinth. Finally the fruit sculpture will be fixed to the plinth.

All these activities will be take a few weeks yet. Progress will be reported as new posts on this blog.

Chris Wright has been visiting Alan Ward in his studio yet again.

Below are some more photos from Chris taken between 29 July and 2 August 2022.

You can see how the Portland stone sculpture is taking shape and is now looking like a pear.

Chris Wright has made three more visits to Alan Ward’s studio in Lancaster Castle to record progress.

Here are some of the photographs Chris took. You can see that the sculpture is clearly taking shape.

Chris Wright has been back to Alan Ward’s studio in Lancaster Castle to take some more photographs. 

Alan is sculpting the first replacement stone fruit – Swan’s Egg pear.  The sculpture is being carved from Portland stone.

Lancaster based sculptor, Alan Ward has started work on the first of the replacement stone fruit sculptures – the Swan’s Egg pear. The sculpture is being carved from Portland stone. Alan is working from a polystyrene model created by artist Robert Williams.

Chris Wright has taken some photographs of Alan at work. See below.