The celebrated ‘Art within Reach’ statue at Cobbett Road Library benefited from a clean and polish on June 8 – for the first time since it was officially unveiled in 1991.

The much-loved work, clearly visible from the busy A3024 Bitterne Road West, celebrated its 25^th birthday last October with a visit from its creator, Kevin Atherton, who came over from Ireland for the occasion.

The statue depicts a book being taken out of the library, literally, by Dot Winteridge, who was the model and who's been an enthusiastic library user since it first opened in 1939.

Wolf & Stone Ltd of Sherborne in Dorset, who specialise in fine art bronze casting, took on the specialist cleaning job – you can see a short clip of the work taking place below.

• Award-winning children’s author Ali Sparkes presents ‘Thunderstruck’, an interactive event including a showing of the trailer for the book, on Saturday, June 17, celebrating the library’s first year under community control. See our story here for details.

Previously
Audio / Video: Sculptor revisits his work at Cobbett Library - 25 years on. Listen to our interview >>
Talking to Dot Winteridge: Being the model for famous ‘Art within Reach’ statue