A SPECIAL memento made from parts of the UK’s largest ever mechanical puppet was presented to the people of Tavistock and West Devon at the weekend.
An engine house was created from bits off of the Man Engine to mark the one-year anniversary of when the puppet came to Tavistock and as a way of saying thank you to local residents.
In 2016, thousands crammed into a smoke-filled Bedford Square to see the unveiling and rise of the Man Engine as part of the anniversary celebrations of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.
The brainchild of Will Coleman, of Cornwall’s Golden Tree Productions, the Man Engine was designed and overseen by Hal Sylvester using a team of talented engineers, fabricators, welders, smoke and lighting experts and artists from across the region.
The gift was presented on Saturday by Will to representatives from Tavistock Town Council and West Devon Borough Council.
Will said: ‘We are presenting the people of Tavistock and West Devon with this engine house made from off cuts of the boy himself.’
The Man Engine is now one of seven projects campaigning to win the UK’s Best Art Project in the National Lottery Awards. If the project wins, organisers will receive a £5,000 cash prize to spend on its project and Golden Tree Productions will attend a star-studded glittering awards ceremony which will be broadcast on the BBC in September. To vote for the Man Engine, call 0844 8369676 or visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards
John Taylor from Tavistock Heritage said: ‘This was to thank Tavistock for its efforts to help promote the Man Engine and they also wanted people to vote for the project in the National Lottery Awards for Good Causes. We even discussed the possibility of bringing the Man Engine to Tavistock at Easter as a lot of people missed it last time.’
Watch this space!
Picture by James Bird.