Ronnie Barker

I'm on jury duty this week, so spending time hanging around in Aylesbury.
The new Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury opened recently and now has a statue of Ronnie Barker who the town seems to have claimed because he first performed there.










































Aylesbury has a few statues but they are all rather Victorian, up on pedestals in heroic poses. I like this new one as it's very personal and captures the essence of the man as I remember him on TV. You can even sit next to him.

Aldershot

I was sent to Aldershot for two days by my employers. While there I found the statue of the Duke of Wellington that was removed from the top of the Wellington Arch near Hyde Park in 1883. The Duke lived in Apsley House on Hyde Park corner. The statue used to be on top of the arch in front of the house in Wellington Square. It was moved to Aldershot in 1885 and restored in 2004.

New Statue

Don't blink!
There I was walking back to the office when I came across this chap. A new statue. This is the Barge master and Swan Marker of the Vintners Company. Located just across the road from Vintners' Hall outside St James Garlickhythe. The Vintners Company is one the twelve great livery companies of the City of London and has the right, granted by the sovereign, to own swans which they claim during the Swan Upping and to eat them, which they do once a year with great ceremony. It is an offence except in a few instances even to be in possession of a swan carcase.