From grand beginnings to a struggle to retain its cultural identity following the decline of the fishing industry, Grimsby’s artistic legacy is broad and varied. This event will reflect on Grimsby cultural history and the town’s public sculpture from Edwardian times until the present day.

1. Edward Bannister’s inspiring legacy and early public sculpture in the town by Kerry Henderson, Darren Neave, Geoff Scargill and Dale Wells

The first talk will cover the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the early the twentieth century. Looking particularly at Victorian and Edwardian Grimsby and its major benefactor, Edward Bannister (1821–1916), the town’s mayor in 1868-9 and Geoff Scargill will be speaking about the important role played by Edward Watkin MP (1819–1901) in erecting the interesting statue of Prince Albert by William Theed the Younger.

2. Harold Gosney and local sculptors; the fate of their public sculpture and the issue of Grimsby Central Library
by Kerry Henderson, Darren Neave and Dale Wells

The second talk will look at Grimsby from the mid-twentieth century until the present day, highlighting the important sculptural contributions of Harold Gosney (b. 1937) with works such as the Great Grimsby Seal (Grimsby Central Library),  and the recently demolished concrete reliefs for Abbey Walk car park. More recent additions to the town’s public sculptures will also be considered. The talk will focus particularly on the cultural significance of the Central Library and and its integral decorative scheme with the valued contributions of local artists such as Peter E. Todd (1921–2006) and David Morris.

Kerry Henderson is passionate about saving and promoting local heritage and culture in the Grimsby area. She has recently completed the project to restore and reinstate a significant piece of public art, Harold Gosney’s Family Group, at Immingham, and has published an online biography of local philanthropist Edward Bannister. Kerry is a founder member of the group aiming to save Grimsby Library. She chairs the Heritage subgroup of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Civic Society.

Darren Neave is an artist and researcher currently undertaking a doctoral award at Leeds Beckett University. His practice-led research navigates the preposterousness of olfaction (through perfume and commercially available scented products) with sculptural resurrection, with links to re-use, ecological demise, corporeal embodiment and memory. Darren is currently co-director (with Dale Wells) of the turntable gallery in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. The first dedicated space for contemporary art within the town. He recently gained an MRes from The Royal College of Art in London. He has an MFA from the University of Lincoln and a BA from the University of Leeds (Bretton Hall College).

Geoff Scargill is a retired headteacher and magistrate. He is the founder and chair of the Watkin Society and has written a book about this influential MP and railway entrepreneur, Victoria’s Railway King – Sir Edward Watkin (2021, Frontline Books).

Dale Christopher Wells is a contemporary sculptor, who also draws and writes. He was born is based in Lincolnshire. Having studied Fine Art at the Grimsby Institute, and gained his post graduate degree at Lincoln University, he has shown extensively across the UK. His practice often centres around his love of professional model making, a skill fostered in his grandad’s workshop at an early age. He has worked on set design prop-boxes for European operatic productions, and currently freelances in museological scale model restorations. Primarily, however, he is a practising artist, and co-directs the turntable gallery (with Darren Neave), Grimsby’s only dedicated space for contemporary art.

RECORDING:Grimsby’s sculptural heritage and the struggle to retain it