The day started ominously when we discovered that trains to Doncaster were cancelled because of flooding. Sylv had to drive me to Doncaster where I caught my train with 3 minutes to spare.  However, the rest of the day went well. In London I met Lily, the stonemason in charge of the statue plinth, and then went on to Tunbridge Wells.  The following morning Andrew King, our John Harrison expert picked me up and we drove out into the country, down a farm track and then behind some half-deserted buildings and abandoned vehicles – till we came to Livingstone Art Founders.

Inside was a life-sized John Harrison and a live sculptor, Marcus Cornish, still working on the figure, making small adjustments.

What a place!  Here’s the wax they heat up for its part in the ‘lost wax’ method (note the nearby kettle and PG Tips) and the room where they apply heat resistant plaster.

Then there’s the kiln where the wax melts out and the bronze goes in…

The journey back had its problems too. No trains out of Kings Cross after a fatality on the line so I stood all the way on a train from St Pancras to Sheffield.  But then glad to be home, alive, unwaxed, unbronzed, unplastered.