South Shields park earmarked for Ray Lonsdale's evocative sculpture depicting Sunderland POW Len Gibson
Plans for a new statue in South Shields celebrating “The Forgotten Army” and a “local war hero” have been submitted to council development chiefs.
South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for the installation of a new statue by celebrated local sculptor Ray Lonsdale.
As a prisoner of war, he was forced to work on the infamous Mergui Road and when interned, he built his own musical instrument and entertained fellow prisoners around a fire each night.
When he returned to Sunderland, he inspired thousands of young people, including his neighbour, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.
As a long-time supporter of cancer charity Daft as a Brush, Len adopted one of the charity’s ambulances, with the children at his former school where he was a music teacher creating the artwork for the ambulance and naming it ‘Len Guitar Gibson.’
After passing away on July 31, 2021, at 101 years old, the inspirational great-grandfather is set to be immortalised in a statue, with the artwork recently unveiled on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which marked the end of WWII following Japan’s surrender.
Charity Daft as a Brush has now submitted a formal application to South Tyneside Council’s planning department seeking permission to install the 2.7m high statue at the Grade II-listed North Marine Park in South Shields.
A supporting design and access statement notes Brian Bernie, founder of the Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care charity, commissioned celebrated local artist Ray Lonsdale to “create a distinctive and thought provoking piece of art” to “commemorate Len Gibson BEM”.
The document describes Mr Gibson as “a local war hero” and noted the statue depicts him “handing his home made banjo to a young local boy as a symbol of peace and forgiveness, as he was released from far east captivity to come home”.
It was noted that “the finished artwork conveys sensitivity and emotion and shows Mr Gibson in the clothes he would have worn as a Japanese PoW”.
The supporting statement notes that the application is to “permanently display the artwork on a high point in North Marine Park, near Lawe Top, where the landscape features a steep north facing incline down to the mouth of the Tyne”.
Those behind the plan noted the statue would be “located close to the important junction of two footpaths” and would “face inland, towards Lawe Road, a residential road of terraced properties and marine villas”.
The supporting design and access statement adds: “It is intended to enhance the park emotionally as many of the soldiers from this area never returned from the Bridge over the River Kwai, Death Railway in Burma.
“It is also intended to serve as a lasting tribute to Len Gibson, a local war hero and for all ‘The Forgotten Army’ who fought in Burma.
“The statue is to be fixed to a rough hewn sandstone base. A provision for future external low level lighting will be made.
“The base will be placed at above ground level and the rough finish to the base is intended to represent the harsh environment endured by prisoners of war and also to discourage close contact with the statue.
“A separate stone base will take the interpretation board which is similar in design to those located elsewhere in the park.”
Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care boss, Brian Burnie, who was a long time friend of Mr Gibson, has privately funded the moving tribute.
The South Shields statue is the latest piece to be created by Ray Lonsdale, whose pieces can be seen around the region including in Seaham, St Peter’s Riverside and in Keel Square in Sunderland.
“It’s for the people who were captured, tortured and worked to death in many cases,” he added.
“You see all the First World War statues, you see all the different aspects that are commemorated on a regular basis, so it’s nice to bring this story to the fore.
“I was contacted by Brian Burnie from the Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care charity, he thought a lot of Len Gibson, and wanted something created so these people were less likely to be ever forgotten.
“He asked me to come up with some ideas, so I read the book Len wrote and there was one story that really stood out.
“Len had made a make-shift guitar to entertain his friends while he was captured, inside that guitar was a very small amount of money he had made.
“Just as he was about to get on a plane after liberation, Len gave the guitar with the money inside to a Thai child; to me that’s special.
“After all that time of being purely tortured and all the discomfort and aggression, just to give that gift before he came home was such a nice touch and really tells the story of the man.”
A decision on the South Shields sculpture will be made following a council consultation exercise.
For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250589
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