The headmaster wrote to the artist to ask about buying the sculpture for the | Course Hero

it when they got to school on the Monday – at that stage they had no idea that we were

getting it.’

The artist, Tom Bennett, was a university professor of chemistry before he retired in

2006 and only took up metalwork a couple of years ago. But he had always been a

keen artist. ‘I’ve always drawn pictures,’ he said. ‘I can even remember doing it on my

first day at school – I drew a horse. I wanted it to be the best horse picture ever, but I

don’t think I succeeded!’

Tom’s first project using metal was a bicycle for two that he and his wife could go

cycling on together. ‘It was the most uncomfortable bike ever created,’ admits Tom,

‘so I gave up making bicycles and went into sculpture instead.’

The first metal sculpture I ever did was of a lion, which now also lives at a school. It

started out as a cat, but it just didn’t look right, so I made it into a lion and put it in my

front garden. It soon began to attract attention from passers-by. Some small children

wouldn’t walk past the lion unless they could have a turn sitting and playing on its

back. I think children feel that my sculptures look like actual live animals, and that’s

what I want.’

Meanwhile the pupils at Grange town High are very happy with their new classmate.

‘We’re going to hold a competition to give it a proper name,’ said one girl. ‘Everyone

likes the expression on its face, so perhaps that will give us some ideas.’