Queen Elizabeth II Statue in Queens Gardens

Work to create a statue of Queen Elizabeth II in Newcastle-under-Lyme has begun – during the week leading up to what would have been her 98^th birthday – thanks to two leading companies.

Staffordshire digger maker JCB and social impact developer Capital & Centric are jointly funding the statue commissioned by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council to mark the borough’s 850^th anniversary.

Internationally-famous Staffordshire artist, Andy Edwards, whose previous works include the landmark Beatles statue at Liverpool’s Pier Head, is basing the sculpture on photographs of the late Queen’s visit to Newcastle-under-Lyme as part of the Borough’s 800^th anniversary celebrations in 1973.

It will include minute details such as the famous Cambridge brooch which the late Queen wore when she visited the town.

A spokesperson for Brampton Museum, which is overseeing the project, said: “We’re proud to oversee the construction of what could be amongst the first statues of Queen Elizabeth II commissioned since her death.

“It is being crafted by a renowned local sculptor and, rather fittingly, placed in Queens Gardens facing the statue of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.

The £85,000 statue, cast in bronze and weighing one tonne, will be an exact replica of how Queen Elizabeth II looked when she walked through the town centre, cheered on by thousands of people after making an address from the balcony of the old civic offices in Merrial Street.