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Henry Moore sculpture returns to Greenwich Park

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Henry Moore sculpture in Greenwich Park

A sculpture by the artist Henry Moore has been returned to the position he designed it for in Greenwich Park.

The piece, ‘Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge’, was first installed in the park in 1979 and then removed to be exhibited elsewhere in 2007.

Its return to the park has been made possible through joint funding from The Friends of Greenwich Park, The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) and The Royal Parks.

Colin Buttery, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Parks, The Royal Parks said this morning: “Without the fantastic local support, the Royal Parks wouldn’t have been able to bring this sculpture back here and the Friends, Locog and the Henry Moore foundation have all worked so hard to make this happen.”

He paid particular thanks to Greenwich Park Manager, Graham Dear, for “doggedly pursuing” the return of the statue.

Olympic gold-medalist and Locog board member, Jonathan Edwards, told journalists that “Henry Moore is coming home and as an organising committee, we’re delighted to be able to support the return of the ‘Knife Edge’.”

Anita Feldman, Head of Collections and Exhibitions, The Henry Moore Foundation said:

“It is wonderful to return the sculpture to the site Moore selected particularly as it will be overlooking London during the Olympic Games. Moore once exhibited a version of this sculpture on a hillside overlooking the Acropolis in Athens – its upraised arm, arched back and tilted hip recall the triumphant gesture and humanism of the ancient Nike of Samonthrace.”

It has been agreed that the piece will stay in Greenwich for two years but the agreement is renewable – would the Henry Moore Foundation like to see it stay in Greenwich?

“Definitely….I think it’s always best if you can have sites that the artist chose,” Ms Feldman told Greenwich.co.uk.

Ellie Brown, who is a personal trainer in the park and lives locally, said: “When it went, it left a big hole here… it was very flat. So it’s really powerful to have it back.”

Local resident Chris Mann was in the park this morning and told Greenwich.co.uk: “My wife and I were absolutely distressed when it suddenly disappeared with no information on why it had gone so I’m absolutely thrilled to see that it’s come back again. It’s fantastic!”

The sculpture which stands at over five metres tall, including the plinth, was transported down to Greenwich Park from the Henry Moore foundation in Perry Green on Tuesday.

Jonathan Edwards in Greenwich Park

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Daily Photo: 02/09/2011 – Greenwich Comedy Festival

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Thanks to Lara Ruffle for this photo of her ticket from last year’s Greenwich Comedy Festival.

The festival is nearly upon us again and includes top comics such as Kevin Eldon, Arthur Smith, Stephen K Amos, Ardal O’Hanlon, Tim Key, Tim Minchin and loads more.

The festival runs between September 5th – September 11th.

Daily Photo: 01/09/2011 – Missing engagement ring

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Can you help Sarah? She lost this engagement ring this morning at Greenwich railway station.

Sarah was sitting on seats between Plaform 2 and the DLR platform when she jumped up for her train at 8.50am.

Sarah thinks the ring was on her lap when she got up so if you saw it fall onto the platform, please help get it back to Sarah.

You can contact Sarah via Twitter or post a comment here and I’ll pass your message on.

Daily Photo: 30/08/2011 – The moon on the Thames

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Thanks very much to George Austin for sending me this photo of the moon reflecting on the river one evening last week.

Taken any nice photos in Greenwich recently? Contributions to the Daily Photo can be emailed to rob@greenwich.co.uk and look out for a Daily Photo competition in September.

Local residents Roar for charity

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THREE local women have joined a fundraising effort by recording a charity single.

Annabel Kaye and Hela Wozniak Kay from Greenwich, and Annie Brooks from Blackheath, were among the forty women that made up ‘Sisters Roar’.

The group were joined by ‘The Survivor Birds‘  at the Angel Studios in north London to record a version of the Helen Reddy-classic, ‘I Am Woman’.

Money raised by the song, which is available as a CD and as a download via iTunes, will be used to support women affected by breast cancer, cervical cancer and domestic abuse.

Annabel Kaye commented: “It was a fabulous experience to be part of Sisters Roar and to have the chance to raise money for charity.”

Daily Photo: 24/08/2011 – Homes under the hammer

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If you’re not a regular viewer of daytime television, you may have missed  Greenwich’s appearance on the BBC’s ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ programme yesterday morning.

You can catch it again on iPlayer at this link for the next six days and follow the story of a property renovation in Brand Street.

(The episode was a repeat so you may well have seen it before anyway.)

Plans for redeveloped John Roan School revealed

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PLANNING applications for the redevelopment of John Roan School have been submitted, along with proposals to temporarily move hundreds of pupils to a former school in Royal Hill.

The John Roan Lower School in Westcombe Park Road is set to be completely demolished and replaced with a new 7,845 m2 campus. Using a “marketplace” design concept, the redeveloped site will comprise of a main academic block and a dedicated sports block with state of the art facilities and a drama studio.

A new “entrance plaza” will be created for “public safety” and to “minimize disruption along Westcombe Park Road.”

The Grade-II listed Upper School in Maze Hill will be refurbished throughout with the original building “returned to its former glory”. The gymnasium will be converted to a dedicated 6th form facility and new ICT facilities will be added.

Two previously infilled courtyards will be opened up to create new “covered dining, social and break-out areas.”

The project, which already secured funded from the Building Schools for the Future initiative, could begin early next year and take two years to complete.

To enable teaching to carry on throughout the redevelopment, it is also proposed that about 400 year-10 and year-11 students be temporarily “decanted” to the Victorian school building in Royal Hill, Greenwich.

The school is named after its founder, John Roan, who died in the seventeenth century and bequeathed money for the education of the “poor town-bred children of Greenwich”.

The school has had various incarnations at several sites for boys and girls in the borough, before coming together in a new mixed Comprehensive school in the early 1980s.

Controversial plans to move the John Roan School to Greenwich Peninsula were dropped in 2009.


Illustration of the interior of the new Westcombe Park Road site


Illustration of a newly covered courtyard at the refurbished Maze Hill site

School in Royal Hill, Greenwich
Victorian school in Royal Hill where it is proposed that year-10 and year-11 students be relocated to while the John Roan redevelopment takes place.