Bob and I had decided we'd divert a little and stop in Worcester for lunch. As we emerged from the multi-storey carpark by the Cathedral, we encountered a giraffe! It was the first day of the Worcester Summer Sculpture Trail. I confess that I squealed with excitement!
I liked the one celebrating the lovely orchard fruits grown locally, and another 'tactile' one covered in raised items, including strips of braille, designed to be appreciated by the visually impaired.
The sun was bright and hot - but an enthusiastic lady from the G-Tech company [a local firm] encouraged us to take selfies with her giraffe. "Follow us and tweet it, to win a cache of GTech goodies" she said [do I need another vacuum cleaner?]
I love these trails- the local people really get involved, the children like them - and they do so much to raise money for good causes. People are so creative in the ways they decorate and personalise their animal.
I'm fascinated too that the old name for the giraffe was the camelopard - because people thought it was shaped vaguely like a camel, but had spotty skin like a leopard.
Another old name is the zurnapa- from the Persian words for flute - zurna, and leg - pa. No I don't understand it either. Giraffe is a French word, believed to come from the Arabic zarafa - but nobody seems really sure about all this!Do you have one of the trails in your city?
or have you seen one on holiday?
What animals were depicted?
And if you click on THIS LINK you can see Bob and me being famous for five seconds!
I do like the trails. We looked at a Park Bench trail in Greenwich once and also dogs somewhere, though I forget where. They are fun! I like a treasure hunt type search!
ReplyDeleteI live close to Bath and this year they have the Minerva's Owls sculpture trail. In previous years there have been lions, and before that there were pigs. Bristol is also close to me and they have had gorillas, Gromit, and Shawn the Sheep. Also fairly close are Salisbury who had the Magna Carta barons, and Wells who has swans.
ReplyDeleteI love the sculpture trails and try to get to all the local ones.
My daughter and grandsons are in Norwich this evening helping their scout group do the GoGo Hare trail. I have seen 2 of them and they are lovely. Apparently there are also some leveretts out there now as well.
ReplyDeleteI am really looking forward to seeing the Norfolk one in August- especially as this year they are actually having hare sculptures throughout the county as well as in the city.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, my city had a public arts display of angels, which were later auctioned for charity. But, I don't think there are any annual sculpture trails.
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