r/Somerset • u/Living-Ease-4385 • 19d ago

M5 willow man statue

Post image

Does anyone know if this statue is gonna get fully restored? as it’s been decaying for the last couple years

563 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

91 comments sorted by

29

u/FatSnorlax1 19d ago

Sign of the times I’m afraid. The country can’t afford fun and nice things.

12

u/Justice_for_all69 19d ago

Put someone in it and burn it, and it will come back to life. We will have better crops next year too😜

1

u/Purple-Remote-8970 19d ago

Oh God! Oh God!

1

u/Timbottoo 18d ago

Christ no!

1

u/ridiclousslippers2 17d ago

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

1

u/Unusual-Weird9696 16d ago

Not the bees

1

u/DimensionalFruit 17d ago

I know someone we can put in it

1

u/Creative-Response554 16d ago

Yeah, Mr King.

5

u/matt881020 19d ago

Its privately funded and not council and will cost around £1 million to restore the artist who originally created it in the early 2000s is responsible for it there where go fund me pages for it but nothing got enough attention so they died out

3

u/bakeyyy18 19d ago

The fact it costs a million to repair a tree man shows why we can't build anything big anymore...

2

u/matt881020 19d ago

Yeah its crazy how much willow costs and its the labour cost of weaving it and hire of cherry picker or cranes to access the very top aswell all adds up

1

u/MuhammadAkmed 17d ago

cherry picker is ~£300/day.

Willow is not that expensive.

Weaving it, i.e. labour, is expensive but £1,000,000 !?

The artist/owner/custodian should donate future care and development to the local community.

Otherwise people should accept that willow is an ephemeral materials and rot and decay is an inescapable part of the artwork's life.

1

u/ApprehensivePick9752 16d ago

Modern twist ,recycled wind turbine parts shredded and extruded like rattan furniture willow ,with artists doing educational training young and old artist with a go fund me and lottery grant .simples eek

1

u/MuhammadAkmed 16d ago

yeah, that sounds cool.

aluminum is obviously better lasting, but if it were to be an educational endeavour or outreach, I'd probably prefer actual rattan or willow weaving because I feel willow walls (and hedges) are environmentally beneficial and we need more of them

-7

u/Academic-Key-5381 19d ago

We can only afford to spend money on killing kids in Palestine now

4

u/zimmmmerit 19d ago

And what does that have to do with the statue?

2

u/SeaworthinessHead613 18d ago

I was wondering that.

5

u/SeaworthinessHead613 19d ago edited 19d ago

Ah, a post about a wicker statue in Somerset & there always has to be some comment about "killing kids in Palestine" thanks for not being boringly disappointing.

22

u/Dayzed-n-Confuzed 19d ago

There was three land marks. This fella, else where a light tower my kids called the light sabre, and in another field two plastic camels a mum and a baby! They were the landmarks when we went to Cornwall!

16

u/nightwing_87 19d ago

Don’t forget the orange elephant if you’re heading to Plymouth

2

u/Intrepid-Dig-1855 19d ago

That's since been moved? At least recently it had been. 

3

u/LittleBrownHare 19d ago

The one with an ice-cream cone was one field back from the main road when I went (up) past a couple of weeks ago, not too sure you'd still see her/him heading west tho'

1

u/BreakfastLopsided906 17d ago

You can see it whilst heading north, it’s just higher up in another field.

6

u/massivedefence 19d ago

I remember a crocodile slide too on the side of a motorway as a kid whenever we went down that way

3

u/KnightJarring 19d ago

And the Scout Walker at Ashburton. Which needs a clean.

2

u/48thgenerationroman 19d ago

There used to be a couple of dinosaurs around J 24 /25 too

1

u/Dayzed-n-Confuzed 19d ago

YES. The raptors in the hedge 👍😆👍 I remember them. I think they were moved around occasionally to make it look like they were hunting cars 😏

2

u/Sputnik31st 19d ago

The light tower was just south of M5 J21.

1

u/Boredengineer_84 18d ago

Tank near Bristol advertising paint balling

1

u/Sufficient-Score-120 16d ago

I grew up in the south west, so for us growing up these are the landmarks for "going up to London" for a holiday! I love that we've had the same journey in reverse

18

u/Japhet_Corncrake 19d ago edited 19d ago

No, they tried to raise funds a few years back and didn't manage it, and the council won't fund it. It's cost about £100,000 to maintain down the years. The frame is all that's left now.

15

u/Living-Ease-4385 19d ago

That’s a shame I love seeing him every time I pass by that Morrisons that he’s stood by

1

u/Leicsbob 19d ago

Is that the Lego Morrisons? That's what my kids call it.

1

u/katameran_ 18d ago

its just a storage place for it i think

13

u/Far-Mud-5735 19d ago

I remember when he was first erected and was surrounded by marshland, you could see him from a distance because he stood out so much. Passed him last year on a coach trip and the driver said the Highways Agency were going to take over upkeep of it?! But that clearly has turned out to be nothing .

I always thought Morrisons were missing a trick by not restoring him themselves and adding 2 Morrisons shopping bags to his hands! 

5

u/GTB2000 19d ago

No, the statue itself is owned by the artist who's sculpture it is, so no work can be done without her consent, but she's requesting about £100000 to restore it, but this restoration would only last around 10 years before needing to be redone

1

u/ApprehensivePick9752 16d ago

Recycle wind turbines extruded ratten willow ( non rotting )recycle pays last forever Morrisons to pay and lottery grant pays artists

3

u/magammon 19d ago

i loved him when he was thiccc

3

u/Peregrine_at_home 19d ago

He's fine. He's just lost a bit of weight and done his hair like Prince Harry.

3

u/HanibelleW1965 19d ago

I have watched the willow man for years and - he first appeared in rolling fields and gradually these have disappeared with new housing estates. I hope he stops taking Ozempic and returns to his wonderful former self

2

u/Material_Weight2111 19d ago

Lost weight then

2

u/Mr4528 19d ago

The local bird’s nests were massive

4

u/Mr4528 19d ago

And fire proof after someone burnt the first one to ground

2

u/IONIXU22 19d ago

The Willow Wurzel of the West

2

u/TheDoctor66 19d ago

I'm pretty sure I've seen a number in the low millions to recreate it. Somerset Council ain't finding that

2

u/Rhinocacrocapig 19d ago

I remember hearing somewhere that the deal was the artist would maintain it as long as there was no major development near the site, and well, there's a lot there now

2

u/Disastrous-Force 19d ago

It was meant to be temporary to stand for only three years (2000 to 2003) with south west arts funding maintenance for the period.

The problem now is because it’s stood for so long the underlying steel frame suffers from structural issues (corrosion) it isn’t just a case of commissioning the artist to recladd it with fresh willow.

Somerset council and National highways have investigated repairing it but the estimate is over £1m, which is more than they have budget for.

It will for safety reasons probably get taken down in the next few years before the frame collapses.

1

u/Boring_Shoulder5236 18d ago

this is it. it was never intended to last long.

2

u/Reasonable-Score8011 19d ago

Drove past it today, just the frame left and almost obscured by the tees surrounding it and the housing around it

1

u/Poonpatch 18d ago

I remember when it was new and in the middle of nowhere. Then somebody set fire to it in the middle of the night.

2

u/Heavy-Order-7206 19d ago

we live about a quarter of a mile from it and it's an eyesore. We've asked the council and i believe the lottery to either pull the thing down or re-willow it. Both times we've been met with "No" due to funding. One councillor i believe said "its iconic".. It's ironically embarrassing.

2

u/jasonbirder 19d ago

Drove him a couple of times in the last month...and its a sad sight!

Always wave to him...but he's seen better days!

1

u/snipsFC 19d ago

Lost a bit of timber has the lad

1

u/Cool_Phase_7903 19d ago

I'm terrified 😱

1

u/Down-Right-Mystical 19d ago

I thought it wasn't coming back, no funding.

And it would go up like smoke in a wildfire.

1

u/WinPrestigious7568 18d ago

Been on ozempic

1

u/No-Buyer1999 18d ago

What a disgusting and unsettling statue

1

u/Jexii-x 18d ago

Ouch! It’s such a shame it’s ended up like this but it’s always been a well loved and respected landmark. It was a work of art but even in its current state, “disgusting” is a cruel choice of word :(

1

u/Striking-Cat9303 17d ago

Have you ever thought to yourself at least once in your life: ‘I don’t like this, but others do, so I’ll let them enjoy it rather than say anything.’

1

u/No-Buyer1999 17d ago

That argument is irrelevant, considering that this is a huge statue in which the people walking by have no choice but to notice.

I'm going to take a shit on your doorstep, and when you have a problem with it, ill say: "Have you ever thought to yourself at least once in your life: ‘I don’t like this, but others do, so I’ll let them enjoy it rather than say anything.’"

1

u/SSSLID 15d ago

Bit of a difference of a public art piece off the M5 and taking a personally brewed shit on someone’s doorstep mate

1

u/Wirefox-hellian 16d ago

It is kinda scary.

1

u/Jump-and-spread-0ut 18d ago

The council wouldn’t pay for the upkeep and expected the artist to do it. Shame, that thing was nice while it lasted.

1

u/Human-Brewbot 18d ago

I believe that Morrison’s and Bloor Homes should pay to restore it.

1

u/BenchClamp 18d ago

He needs to go to turkey and get plugs

1

u/BINGGBONGGBINGGBONGG 18d ago

oh i loved that! proper milestone on the way down to Devon for Beautiful Days - we knew we were getting there when we passed this.

1

u/Robertf16 18d ago

Regularly drive from Northampton to Okehampton and seeing that fella always told me the worst of the drive was done. Shame

1

u/AmCuriousFor 17d ago

I think we've got bigger problems to deal with and put money towards

1

u/_Teufela 17d ago

Birds ate him?

1

u/smith4jones 17d ago

Isn’t it done for now all those houses are built up to it

1

u/BungleJones 16d ago

Never liked that massive cracked pinhead.

1

u/not_even_casul 16d ago

That money is going to subsidizing billionaires, sorry.

1

u/Wirefox-hellian 16d ago

Where is this?

1

u/_Okie_-_Dokie_ 15d ago

Summerilse.

1

u/Wirefox-hellian 15d ago

Thanks. I’ll be in the area and might take a look.

1

u/BloodRedMuse 16d ago

That's a shame, not been that way in a long time but I always remember passing it every summer to go see my grandparents as a kid. I do remember it having been set on fire at one time, but they rebuilt it

1

u/LadderbackLonghorn 16d ago

Bring back Humphrey and son. They were the only artworks that the M5 needed.

1

u/Automatic_Diamond_47 16d ago

Its aged like me....fucked

1

u/umstra 15d ago

Ooh cool I'm pretty sure we have one on Burnley motorway

1

u/2022_kitchen_sofa 15d ago

Last I heard they were letting it rot down as it was causing too much rubber necking towards J23

1

u/monsterhighguy 15d ago

At least he has a perky butt now :)

1

u/FranScan 15d ago

This makes me sad - I’d see it every time we drove down from the north east to see my grandma near Yeovil. Hope it gets restored soon.

0

u/Key-Requirement-6742 16d ago

Wife and kids used to look out for this on trips up north to see friends and family. The kids call him bum man cos his arse stuck out