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CARY GRANT STATUE - Bristol, England


A modern, realistic statue of Cary, located in the city's Millennium Square 
is a superb addition to Bristol's streetscape!


Warbride Morag Clarke snuggles up to a life-sized Cary


Click here to view larger pictureStatue miniature

Sculptor: Graham Ibbeson

Cold cast Bronze effect statue stands approx 15'' (38cm)
Cast from the Maquette for the original statue by Graham 
in Bristol. 

                    


October 19, 2001

The new, and final, date for the unveiling is Friday 7 December.  This date marks the seventieth anniversary of Archie Leach's first contract in Hollywood - thus it be said to be Cary Grant's birthday! 

I understand that many of our American friends may not wish to travel at the moment we invite all of the Warbrides to the event.  Anyone who wishes to come to Bristol for the unveiling and/or the weekend, our travel arrangements are being overseen by our good friend Derek Townsend at Key Services who may be contacted on (44) 117 973 1313 e-mail - derek.townsend@blueyonder.co.uk

On another point - we have had to change the location for the statue.  Unfortunately the new position does not allow us to put in the range of landscaping we had originally planned.  Therefore we will not be able to have a dedicated War Brides plaque.  However, in two or three years time we hope the statue will be moved to a dedicated site that will allow us to do everything we had intended.  

Very best wishes,
David

September 6, 2001

The statue is nearing completion!  Above is the latest photo of the statue.

July 30, 2001

Unfortunately I have some bad news for those war brides planning to come over in September. 

The local council recently informed us that there is a cast iron water main directly under the chosen site.  After failing to find an alternative site at short notice we have reluctantly decided to postpone the unveiling until this problem has been overcome.  We will send details of the new date as soon as possible but the most likely date is Friday 7 December 2001, the seventieth anniversary of Archie Leach's first contract with Paramount.    

May I ask you to circulate this information as soon as possible to your members and visitors to your site.

Please pass on our apologies to those people who have made travel arrangements, but as you see we have no alternative.  You will have noticed that we have been very careful to make no definitive public announcement on the unveiling date until everything was firmly arranged for this very reason.  However, if some people wish to come over anyway over the first weekend in September we will try to put on a tour for them of Cary's home town and show them a good time.

Very best wishes
 David  

July 17, 2001

Situation report with seven and a bit weeks to go... So far we have raised £46K of the £60K needed to build the statue. We are confident that we will raise the remainder of the required funds in time to unveil the statue on Friday 7 September. There are still a few unresolved issues about the location of the statue. When these are sorted we will be able to 'go live' and release official details of the Cary Fest.

We have initiated a new group called 'The Friends of the Cary Grant Statue', for admirers who wish to make a contribution towards the cost of the statue. May I ask you for a list of Warbrides who have made a contribution so that we can send them 'Friends' certificates when the are ready, i.e. when we have a photo of the finished statue to go on them.

It would also be helpful if you could publicize the Friends Initiative on your website. All contributions should be sent to: 
The Cary Grant Statue Campaign, 
PO Box 197, 
Westbury on Trym, 
Bristol, BS9 2YN 
England 

Very best wishes
David

May 7, 2001

Things continue to go very well with the Statue - Graham Ibbesson, the Sculptor, has been commissioned and is now working hard on the Statue so more news as that develops.

Barbara Grant-Cohen visited us recently and met Graham in order to make sure that she was happy with the way the Statue is to look - she also visited the proposed site in the middle of Bristol - again, she was very happy with everything.

A huge thank you to everyone for the cheque that we received recently - each and every one of you is a STAR ! - the fundraising is going very well and everything is on track for the Festival in September (7th-9th).

I will write again soon with more news and, until then,

God Bless,

Dave

March 26, 2001

"I was wondering if the Warbrides would be interested in contributing enough money to "qualify" for a plaque which would go on the base of the statue? - we are asking companies and groups of people to give £1,000 for a small plaque which would be on the area surrounding the statue"  - David Showler

The Cary Grant E-Mail Warbrides collected £1114.83 for the Cary Grant Statue Campaign!!  This was a worldwide effort of $ & £ collected from dozens of loyal Cary Grant fans from as far apart as Hawaii and Scotland.  Congratulations!!!


March 4, 2001

Dear Debbie

Click on this photo to see it enlarged. Please find attached two photos - one is a scale model of the proposed statue and the other gives an impression of what it will look like in position on the City Centre.

Don't worry about the look of the statue or its proportions at the moment - the Maquette, as its called, is only meant to give a representation of the final statue - Graham Ibbeson, the Sculptor, would normally take about a month to prepare something like this but because we were being hounded for more information by the media he prepared one in a week.

The meeting with the City Council went really well and they have no objections, in principle, to the site we have asked for so more news on this as soon as I get it.

We hope to have more news on sponsorship from some of the big companies we have approached this week so keep your fingers crossed!

I have a meeting the Statue Committee later this week so if you have any questions that need to be put to them please let me know as soon as possible - I know that they are all amazed by the efforts being made by the Warbrides to raise funds so any update on your progress that I can report back would also be appreciated.

Write soon and God Bless.

Dave



February 23, 2001
 

Hi Debbie

Things are very definitely getting busy here in Bristol !

We have a meeting with the Planning Department of the City Council on Wednesday 28th February - they will walk around the new City Centre with us and decide on the most appropriate place for Cary's statue.

Keep your fingers crossed that they give permission for it to go on the spot we have already picked because it is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT - I will email you after the meeting with more news.

Thank you for the questions - answers are as follows:

The "plaques" are likely to be engraved into the base on which the statue will stand. As I mentioned before, the base will be a star shape and will add the perfect finishing touch to the overall look of the statue.

All of the local television stations will be covering the Festival and Sony, who now own Columbia Pictures, are currently considering  helping as well so this will almost certainly result in a video of the Festival being produced and sold via the official website.

Just to let you know that I have just completed my application to become a member of the Warbrides - hope you will have me!.

Write soon and God Bless

Dave    


February 18, 2001

Hi Debbie!

Thank you for your email.

Things are going very well with the Statue Campaign - here's an update of recent events:

Bristol City Council is right behind the idea of the Statue and has given permission for it to be put up on the new City Centre - all we have to do now is to agree on where.

There is a very obvious position which looks onto both the Bristol Hippodrome and also the Watershed Centre which is where films by performers such as Cary are shown so this would be really appropriate.

We will be using a man call Graham Ibbeson to make the statue - he is very well known in this country for other work he has done in bronze. The statue of Cary will be about 2 metres high and will stand on a "star" plinth, he will be walking towards the Hippodrome and will have a copy of a film script under one arm (he will, of course, be wearing a double-breasted suit).

Graham has provided us with a small scale model of the statue so that we can show people what it will look like - there have been some photos taken of this which I will send you as soon as possible.

The position is perfect as there are circular steps leading up to it and the statue could be well lit and the names of Cary's films could be engraved into the steps etc.

The unveiling will take place at the beginning of September and we are currently trying to raise the rest of the money needed to make sure that the statue goes ahead - we need to do this by the end of March to be sure of hitting the September deadline so things are pretty busy here as you can imagine.

Let me know more about the Warbrides and how I go about joining ! - I was wondering if the Warbrides would be interested in contributing enough money to "qualify" for a plaque which would go on the base of the statue? - we are asking companies and groups of people to give £1,000 for a small plaque which would be on the area surrounding the statue or £5,000 for one which would actually be on the "star" plinth. 

I will keep you up to date with regular progress reports.

Write soon and God bless.

Dave


February 6, 2001

The unveiling of the Statue will be the highlight of a three day Festival which will include a showing of a number of his films and an exhibition of his life and works.

Cary's widow and daughter have very kindly agreed to come over to England in order to attend the Festival and to unveil the Statue.

We have already received quite a lot of sponsorship for the project from former friends and business contacts of Cary's in the USA and we are now trying to raise the final amounts needed from companies in Bristol and then from public donations.

The Statue will be cast in bronze, will be 2 metres high and will stand on a "star" base surrounded by small stars detailing all of his films and leading ladies.

We would like to publicize the Festival and to also offer fans the opportunity to support the fundraising efforts if they would like to.

Souvenirs of the Festival will be sold over the internet from a Cary Grant Festival website which we are currently building and this will include the opportunity to purchase a miniature of the Statue.

I would be really grateful for any help you can give me - we particularly want to get in contact with any American based fan clubs as I am sure there would be a huge interest in the project.

Just as a matter of interest - we are doing all of the work on the project on a voluntary basis and will not be making any money whatsoever from the Festival - any additional money raised will go towards a Foundation in Cary's name at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in order to help young Bristol actors and actresses make their way through Drama School.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best Wishes

David Showler

The Cary Grant Statue Appeal - Bristol


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