Thursday 20 October 2011

A Dream Imprisoned: Sue Purkiss

Five years ago, I wrote a book called The Willow Man. It was about three children who were 'stuck' in different ways, and it told the story of how they became unstuck. The catalyst in this process was the Willow Man: a figure forty feet tall, woven out of willow.

I knew children who were stuck in the ways I describe in the book. And I knew the Willow Man. Ever since the year 2000, he had stood beside the M5, just outside Bridgwater. Thousands of people drove past every day, and like me, they gazed at him and marvelled. This is how I described him at the beginning of the book:

His powerful torso was twisted at a slight angle to his massive thighs, so that his small head gazed with a mixture of defiance and contempt across the concrete ribbon of the motorway. He seemed to be perfectly balanced on one leg: the other was bent, as if at any moment he might choose to complete the step and take his freedom...


He was created by Serena de la Hey as part of the millenium celebrations. She knew he wouldn't last forever: how could he, when he was made out of living willow? I don't think she guessed what an iconic figure he would become: the north of England had the great metal figure, the Angel of the North - but now we had our own angel, the Angel of the South. He stood outlined against the sky, emblematic of the power of life and nature.

About a year later, I was driving down the M5 and I saw that something terrible had happened. All that was left of the Willow Man was a steel skeleton. Vandals had set fire to him, and all that careful craft, all that artistry which had been woven in with the willow - all of this was turned to ashes. There was a public outcry, a positive howl of sadness and outrage: the Willow Man must be rebuilt. And he was.

He became an emblem of Somerset; his picture has appeared on leaflets, on posters, on the sides of trains. He was a part of the landscape - an expression of the landscape. But now the Willow Man is under threat from another direction. Well - from all directions. In fact he's not just under threat: it seems as if the battle is already lost. Developers have succeeded where vandals failed. On one side of him is a massive complex of warehouses, belonging to the supermarket, Morrisons: on the other, a housing estate. Instead of a proud figure silhouetted against the sky, a focus for wonder and imagination, he's hemmed in and imprisoned - you can scarcely see him. Look at the pictures: look at him as he was, and as he is.

It seems like the death of a dream.


Houses matter: new jobs matter. But something that makes thousands and thousands of people pause, and reflect, and experience the power of the imagination, every single day - that matters too. Would it be beyond possiblity to set the Willow Man free and rebuild him somewhere else? He cost in the region of £15,000 the first time round. Surely, even in these times perhaps especially in these times - that's not such a great sum for something that delivers so much?

10 comments:

Penny Dolan said...

I can hardly see the Willow Man in the second photo. An uplifting inspiration now become a recognisable icon for an industrial park! How very, very sad.

Freyalyn said...

The Morrisons' distribution centre now looks very different, and is painted in lots of different greens; it's actually very hard to see how enormous it is. But the Willow Man is still hemmed in.

JO said...

I so agree - I was horrified, last time I drove down the M5 (don't do it very often) to see the Willow Man had lost his context.

Lindsey Fraser said...

I wouldn't have seen it at all had you not told me where to look - it's very sad indeed. But surely somebody will have the sense to relocate it...? And The Willow Man was a really good book, by the way. A pity it's been crowded out as well. For now...

Penny Dolan said...

I know this doesn't seem as if it's about writing but it is - it's about space for inspiration and imagination and thought and wonder getting squeezed out by the ugly face of commerce. Wish he could lift up his green feet and just start walking.

Sue Purkiss said...

Well, he might just do that...

madwippitt said...

What a brilliant Willow Man the first one was - and what a sorry picture the latest one is - more of a downtrodden scarecrow ...
He definitely needs rebuilding and relocating.

Dianne Hofmeyr said...

It somehow epitomizes the demise of modern man. We are being overtaken despite our sensibilities and needs that truly feed us... space, upliftment, a momentary chance to connect with our surroundings and to set our imagination soaring... by greed and commercialism. These two images are one of the most wonderful and one of the saddest images I've seen in a long while. What a reflection of society. I thought these sort of things only happened in an Oscar Wilde type of story

Liz Kessler said...

It's awful to see him being hemmed in like this. I love the Willow Man. He's one of the first signs that we're nearing Cornwall on our way home from trips up north - and I always say hello to him. Such a shame that commercial ugliness gets in the way of beautiful images like him.

007 said...

The same flood destroyed the Larrys Creek plank road and the canal at the creek's mouth. The same storm system also caused the Johnstown Flood, which killed over 2,200 people.
Passages Malibu Healthbest superfoods