The Meeting

1996. Sculptor: John Mills
Location: Harpur Square (southern, left-hand corner) in front of the stone-clad Blore façade of the Harpur Shopping centre.

Bedford Town Centre Book Home |The Sculpture | The Sculptor | Images

This lively figurative group in bronze shows a father, with the family dog beneath his legs and a youngster on his shoulders, collecting three other children from school. This is an appropriate subject, bearing in mind that the location was once the front playground of Bedford Modern School and the impressive façade of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival building, behind, part of that boys' school. The architect of the Harpur Trust building was Edward Blore (1787-1879). The group statues were installed on 23 July 1996.

The Sculptor

John Mills FRSA studied at the Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal College of Art and now lives and works in Hertfordshire. His many other works in public places include Blitz: The National Firefighters Memorial, near St Paul' s Cathedral, the William Blake Memorial, and the Monument to the Women of World War II, all in London.