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Sculpture by Alec and Fiona Peever: 1999
The artists, chosen from a short list of three, were commissioned to create a contemporary public sculpture which would seek both to rededicate the memorial aspect of the original hall and reflect hope for the future at the turn of the Millennium.
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The memorial aspect is encapsulated in a poem written in France in 1916 by Siegfried Sassoon. The words are carved on an octagonal Welsh slate let into the centre of the floor of the foyer of the new hall. The full text of the poem is below.
Everyone suddenly burst out singing
And 1 was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on; on; and out of sight.
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted,
And beauty came like the setting sun.
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... 0 but every one
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
Siegfried Sassoon (1916)
The second element of the design is incorporated in three stainless steel columns set into the centre of an octagonal seat situated outside the foyer facing the recreation grounds. Cut from the steel columns are images of growing plants and birds winging freely. Within the confines of the columns is a seated child carved in Portland stone looking skywards in wonder at the beauty of the world and representing our hopes for the future.