The Story of The Making of Sutton Manor's ‘Dream’

          a) Introduction   |   b) The Big Art Project and Dream   |   c) Dream Media

Sutton Manor Woodland   |   Sutton Manor Colliery #1   |   Sutton Manor Colliery #2

            Dream Photo-Album (36 images)  |  Flash Slideshow  |  Official Dream Website

Header image: Dream photographed from Gorsey Lane towering over Sutton Manor Woodland

a) Introduction

I've been a regular walker through the woodland at the old Sutton Manor Colliery site for some years and have appreciated its peace and tranquility, with just an occasional dog-walker for company. However, during the summer of 2009 it's been a much greater joy to witness the droves of families making their way to the top of the former spoil heap to see for themselves Jaume Plensa's remarkable Dream.

The kids just love it. Some give the statue a good whack to see if they can knock it down or to find out what it's made of! Most of the children end up running round the plinth, that's shaped like a miners' tally, as they chase one another. There's loads of laughter and lots of smiles as parents take photographs and other adults enjoy reflective moments as they gaze up at the £2 million creation. Many visitors read the signage at the base of the statue that tells the story of the former colliery and of the making of the Dream project. Such signs can, of course, only provide overviews and you can find out more about the colliery here and visit the official Dream site here. However, this page will attempt to fill in the gaps and provide an accurate, independent account of how Sutton Manor's Dream came true. SRW

b) The Big Art Project and 'Dream'

It all began in October 2005, when Channel 4 invited the nation to get involved in the Big Art Project, a proposed television series that would inspire local communities to create public artworks that would become lasting physical legacies. Sean Durney, the Arts Officer for St.Helens Council, nominated the former Sutton Manor colliery site as one of six that would feature in the TV programmes. Sean wasn't alone, however, as 1,400 people across the UK also nominated sites within their own local communities.

With so much competition it was clearly going to be tough to make the final cut but the St.Helens bid had an edge as a former miner's focus group had been quickly formed to partner St.Helens Council. The former pit men have a strong connection with their old workplace in Sutton Manor and were keen for a form of memorial on the site. Gary Conley became the lead spokesperson for the St.Helens Big Art Project Community Focus Group who commissioned the artwork backed by the local authority.

Gary started work as a miner when he was 16, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and worked at the colliery from 1974 until its closure in 1991. He then retrained and now works for St Helens Council where he is Resources Manager for Adult Social Care. Other former mineworkers on the steering group were Mel Moran, Dr. Frank Leech, Terry Murray, Ste Conlin, Chris Sephton, John Hamon Snr., John Hamon Jnr., Dave Stevens and Tommy Frodsham who all played important roles on the committee.

Sutton Manor Big Art Project Focus Group

Members of the St.Helens Big Art Project Focus Group with Council Leader Brian Spencer at Sutton Manor (contributed pic)

The logistics of making a large-scale art project a reality are not for the faint-hearted, so the council's input was invaluable. The leader of the council, Cllr. Brian Spencer, had also been employed at Sutton Manor and as you might expect was a keen supporter of the project. In fact the local authority in St.Helens had considered a public art project for the borough back in 2003, so didn't need too much persuading.

Important behind the scenes Council contributions were also made by John Whaling (Economic Development Manager who was also the Dream Project Manager), Bob Hepworth (Director Urban Regeneration & Housing), Wally Ashcroft (Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Heritage) plus Paul Kelly and Tanya Humphries of Helena Housing.

The council then recruited Laurie Peake of art commissioning agency Liverpool Biennial, to act as curator for the project. Laurie had only recently commissioned Anthony Gormley’s work on Crosby Beach entitled ‘Another Place’ and was able to provide expert advice to the ex-miners.

big art project commissioning team

Big Art selection team Isabel Vasseur, Peter Jenkinson, Kevin Murray and Gus Casely Hayford

Channel 4 commissioned independent production company Carbon Media to make the TV series and recruited a number of art and regeneration experts to sift through the applications. These were Isabel Vasseur, Peter Jenkinson, Gus Casely Hayford and Kevin Murray who within months announced a shortlist of twelve sites, which included the St.Helens bid.

The selection panel then had the tough task of narrowing down the dozen sites to the six that would feature in the series. They travelled the country meeting the nominators, proposed funders, public authorities and landowners. Many of the nominees didn't have support from their local authority, so the St.Helens team that comprised the ex-miners focus group, St.Helens Council and Liverpool Biennial were quietly confident.

So there was considerable disappointment when in April 2006, the six winning sites were announced and the former Sutton Manor Colliery site had missed out from the UK’s biggest ever public art commissioning scheme. The Big Art Project would instead comprise communities in Burnley, Cardigan, Isle of Mull, Newham in East London, North Belfast and Sheffield. All the planning and discussions with proposed stakeholders and funders had come to nothing. Or had it? It soon occurred to all concerned that the publicity from a television series would have been an added bonus and there was no reason why the St.Helens proposal couldn't go ahead independently. There were many hurdles to overcome but much groundwork had already been done.

Consequently Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Arts, Jan Younghusband, became impressed by the enthusiasm of the St.Helens team and in November 2006, the Project’s governing body, the Big Art Trust, decided to review its decision and include the Sutton Manor site as a seventh location.

Peter Jenkinson, founding director of the Walsall Art Gallery and Big Art advisory team member said:

Big Art is a massively exciting initiative, that combines the creation of major new public art by renowned international artists at select locations throughout the UK, with direct community involvement. Public art can transform a space into a place, and as the process unfolds, the aim is for the Big Art Project to catalyse a national debate about the impact of art on the lives of people in their communities.

The enthusiasm and humour of the former miners we have already interviewed at Sutton Manor will certainly make for engaging television. The St.Helens project is a worthy addition to the series, and we have no doubt that it can be delivered due to the dedication and commitment of all those involved.

John Whaling, St.Helens Council's Dream Project Manager with Gary and Diann Conley at Channel 4 (contributed pic)

The inclusion in C4's Big Art Project was a welcome boost to the efforts of all concerned. All that was needed now was an artist and a piece of art! A detailed design brief had been created and members of the Big Art Project Focus Group in St.Helens made research trips to see the Angel of the North in Gateshead and public art in the Ruhr Valley in Germany. The trip to see Antony Gormley's creation especially impressed the former miners including Gary Conley:

It completely knocked me out. If I could have transported the Angel of the North at that moment to St Helens, I’d have said, ‘Forget what we’re doing, let’s just have this.’ I come from an engineering background, and it’s a magnificent piece of engineering. It’s a structure that’s 20 metres tall, but with a wing span of 54 metres, and that intrigued me. I wondered how it was going to stay up there, in an exposed position on a hillside, where there are probably 100-mile-an-hour gusts of wind. The wings are slightly angled, like the wings of an aeroplane. They slant forward by 3.5 degrees, which Antony Gormley says gives a sense of embrace.

The Angel is a thing of immense beauty and power, and I just love the colour. We used to have that colour at the colliery where I worked, in a red oxide paint that was applied to exterior steelwork to prevent it going rusty. Back in my engineering days I didn’t find rusty things aesthetically pleasing, but this works. It looks beautiful. The steel is weather-resistant and has copper in it, which gives it a distinctive colour as it shines through the paint. Gormley’s idea was to let it rust, as long as it didn’t do the sculpture any harm. I wondered how they would inspect it, and found out that the body is hollow inside, so you can see the interior. So it’s like art and engineering working hand-in-hand.

The Angel stands over a former mine, so there’s a parallel here with the St Helens site, which is above a disused colliery. It’s as though the angel is coming up out of the dark ground into the light, embracing the future, moving forwards from the industrial age towards an information age, as Antony Gormley put it. The face doesn’t have any features; it’s just blank, so you can picture anybody’s face there. I love that about it. In choosing Dream we were working with the same story, the same background, but we didn’t want people to drive by and think, "There’s a miner’s lamp, there used to be a mine underneath." We wanted them to drive past and think, "That’s interesting, I’ll do a bit of research on it."

Members of the St.Helens Big Art Project Focus Group visit 'Angel of the North' (contributed pic)

Behind the scenes a lot of work was taking place to get the funding in place and to maximise involvement in the project. On March 28th, 2007 the St.Helens Big Art Project was officially launched at the World of Glass by Channel 4's Director of Arts and Performance, Jan Younghusband, in front of invited guests from the business, arts and regeneration communities.

Then on April 30th 2007, Channel 4 broadcast a short taster for the Big Art TV series in 'Three Minute Wonder - Watch This Space'. Former St.Helens miners walked in the Manor woodland as St.Helens comedian Johnny Vegas read Brian Salkeld's touching poem 'Memories'. The Thatto Heath funnyman's fee for his narration was two steak pies from Livesleys! (Click the image on the right to view the programme)

Committee meetings were held in the Smithy Manor pub and in May a shortlisting evening was held in which renowned Catalan artist Jaume Plensa was invited to submit a proposal. It was quite a coup to get someone of his stature involved with Laurie Peake of Liverpool Biennial playing a key role in his recruitment. Barcelona-born Plensa had visited the Sutton Manor site in April and said "It is such a strong and amazing place".

It was considered important from the outset that local people should be involved in the St.Helens Big Art Project and on June 18th, 2007 the community engagement programmes kicked off with a week-long 'archi-truck' stationed in Church Square, St.Helens. It contained a Big Art Video Booth and a Big Art Record Book in which the public were invited to record their views on public art. Then on June 23rd the first Big Art Site Tour took place at the former Sutton Manor Colliery site which was led by former miners.

Above - Jaume Plensa's extraordinary work at Gateshead and Chicago

Also on July 23rd, the announcement was made that the commission to design the artwork at the Manor had been accepted by Jaume Plensa. Jaume was born in Barcelona and has exhibited all over the world. His most famous commission is the iconic Crown Fountain located in the centre of Chicago and his public artworks in the UK include a laser beam light sculpture at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead and a sculpted and illuminated glass dome for the BBC Broadcasting House in London.

On July 26th the St.Helens Star printed the story on the front page of its weekly paper in an article entitled 'Our Angel'. Although there'd been some local publicity previously, this was the biggest so far and a backlash quickly began! Unfortunately, the newspaper had not indicated the funding sources in its piece and so some readers assumed that the then estimated cost of £700,000 would be coming out of their council tax. One wrote to the paper:

I am amazed and stunned at the stupidity of our council for considering wasting £700,000 on a useless, unnecessary, so called work of art. Our hospitals and hospices are in need of urgent medical equipment, scanners, MRI and CT scanners and other lifesaving machines, plus staff to operate them.

Large numbers of St.Helens residents, who believed that the money could be better spent elsewhere, posted angry comments on web forums. Suggestions for alternate uses for the money were at times bizarre and included car parking and somewhere for kids to play, as if Sutton Manor Park and the woodland site opposite didn't exist! So John Whaling of St Helens Council sent his own letter to the Star (16/8/2007) pointing out that the funds were not transferable for other uses:

In response to letters relating to the Channel 4 Big Art Project in St Helens, I can assure the local community that none of the funding for this exciting initiative is coming from Council taxpayers' money. The £700,000 we have successfully secured so far is all from external funding sources, namely the Arts Council, North West Coalfield Communities Regeneration Programme, a Forestry Commission endowment specifically ringfenced for public art, and the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative. In other words, none of the funding could otherwise be used to pay for statutory Council or other mainstream public services such as education, or social or health care.

This only briefly allayed the criticism, however, which continued at every stage of Dream's development, much of it quite misinformed.

Back at the Smithy Manor, the mining focus group had come to the decision that they did not want a literal mining monument but instead an art structure that as well as referencing the past, would breath new life into the site and be admired by thousands of visitors. Curator Laurie Peake was a big influence on the group and taught them to "look beyond what you see" when studying art. They were inspired by Laurie and by their research trips and had the courage to reject Jaume Plensa's first offering which was a mining monument in the shape of a miner's lamp. Gary Conley takes up the story:

When Jaume Plensa first came to our site he initially looked at it through our eyes, but we didn’t want that. We wanted an artist to come and look at it through his own eyes, while fulfilling our remit to reference the past but look towards something in the future. So we had to say what he showed us first of all, wasn’t what we were after. He then asked us if we’d like to see his original idea, which he had scrapped because he didn’t think we’d like it. We said ‘Yes’, and that led to Dream. Jaume was shocked to find that although we were ex-miners we didn’t want something like a mining monument, but were after something contemporary that people would ask questions about, something that would make people stop and come into St Helens.

Although the Dream concept was first discussed by the focus group in October 2007, it took until the late Spring of 2008 before a model could be unveiled to the media and public and details disclosed. This was because the logistics of converting a small model into a 20 metre statue had to be very carefully worked out beforehand and all the funding put in place.

Paul Jones, Chairman of the Sutton Oak Welsh Chapel Preservation Society with Leo Fitzmaurice's mobile road sign 'Heaven'

In the meantime the community engagement programme - of which one strand was called 'Big Art's Little Art' (after C4's 'Big Brother's Little Brother' show) - continued with more than 3,000 local people attending 24 public exhibitions and 60 ambassadors signed up to help promote the Big Art Project in St.Helens. Also schoolchildren from Sutton Manor Primary School visited Crosby beach to study public art in the form of Gormley's Another Place exhibit and the residents of St.Helens were invited to rearrange the letters 'National Coal Board Sutton Manor Colliery’ into a motto to herald the future of the town.

Then Merseyside-based artist Leo Fitzmaurice's mobile road sign 'Heaven' was transported to 52 sites across the borough and an exhibition of photographs from all the sites took place later in the Godfrey Pilkington Gallery.

On May 7th, 2008 the model of Jaume Plensa's creation was unveiled to considerable publicity. It was confirmed that it would be called Dream and take the form of the head of a young female, her eyes closed in quiet contemplation. Criticism was again poured onto the project with a huge number of comments posted to the St.Helens Star's online news article, 'Spectacular Artwork Unveiled' (7th May 2008), the vast majority highly negative. Here's a choice selection:

   •   So it's a big white girl's head to help celebrate our former mining industry?
   •   Its a big, stretched girls head. What in gods name has that got to do with our town, how does it represent the mining industry?
   •   I'm not impressed by the design, my eight year old daughter has something very similar in her bedroom and she puts wigs and make up on it. It's hardly imaginative.
   •   Are we living in St Helens or Easter Island? This self indulgent rubbish will make us the laughing stock of other local towns.
   •   This is an absolute nightmare! We'll be a laughing stock. Will no-one else have it? Just pathetic.
   •   I hope this monster will be thrown out at planning stage. I hope that those involved in passing this thing for public display realise that they'll be approving and installing a giant phallus at the side of the M62.

Although the reaction from many people was disappointing, the focus group were undaunted, especially as on their research trip to Gateshead they'd learnt that Gormley's Angel of the North had endured similar criticism whilst in its planning stages. Not only is art subjective but public art in particular can take time before it attains public acceptance.

The next step was getting planning permission for the artwork. Although the council was essentially applying to itself for permission, it wasn't a case of a simple rubber-stamping, as it was a different section and committee within the authority that had to consider the application in great detail. However, the fact that council experts had carefully prepared the application helped enormously to ease its progress.

The team had a setback at the end of August when the Highways Agency objected to the proposed lighting up of Dream on the grounds that it would distract drivers on the adjacent M62 motorway. Jaume Plensa’s signature is in creating artworks with light and so illumination had been an integral part of the proposal. Although illumination has been shelved for the time being, it's still their aim with a proposal for one light to emanate from Dream's head and travel two kilometres into the air. This would represent Sutton Manor Colliery's mine shaft and the young girl's thoughts and dreams. Illumination would, however, only be used sparingly to mark celebrations or special occasions such as a Saints cup win.

By this time, Channel 4 had realised that Dream would be the mainstay of its Big Art Project TV series and on three occasions postponed its provisional transmission dates to fit in with the St.Helens schedule, finally settling on 10th May 2009 for the first programme. Then on September 9th, 2008, St.Helens Council granted conditional planning permission for Jaume Plensa's structure. However, the team's delight that the work could finally begin in earnest was tempered by the news, albeit expected, that Dream could not for the time being be illuminated.

Evans Concrete of Derbyshire had won the contract to fabricate Dream in ninety individual panels of pre-cast concrete which would have to be conveyed to St.Helens in sections. Meanwhile preparatory work was taking place at Sutton Manor and on December 11th the construction team started boring and setting the concrete piles on the site. A strong foundation was very important for the artwork which would have to withstand huge winds and even the possibility of subsidence on the former colliery site.

Work at the Sutton Manor site constructing Dream (images from BBC TV news coverage)

From w/c March 16th, 2009 the first of the 90 panels started arriving at Sutton Manor. The manufacturer Evans, used a Spanish Dolomite mix to give Dream a glowing white finish and special moulds were employed to provide a smooth texture for the artwork. A large crane was used to winch all the concrete panels into place. Assembling the artwork took a lot less time than it did to manufacture it, although the operation was rather nerve-wracking as it wasn't until the final piece slotted in that they could be certain of no mistakes.

the last Dream panel is slotted into place

While construction was taking place, there was more criticism of the project. As the country was now in a recession, some considered it inappropriate for £2m to be spent on Dream. Others felt it surprising that intelligent commentators should think that the four-year project, which was now in its final stage, had happened overnight and that St.Helens Council should, or could, cancel its contracts because we were in a recession without financial impunity.

Janet Street-Porter joined in the criticism in her column in the Independent newspaper, entitled Public Art Has Become A Vile Pollutant, (April 1st, 2009) in which she questioned when in a recession, the money for Dream would be well spent. Street-Porter was highly critical of Jaume Plensa's creation:

If ever there was a strong argument for not allowing the public to choose art, this is it. Put baldly, it is completely without merit, the only plus being the local council did not pay for it.

gary conley at the official opening of dream in sutton manor, sthelens

Meanwhile, work continued at Sutton Manor and at 2pm on Tuesday April 21st the final section of Dream was winched into place, to much media publicity. The official opening took place on May 31st, 2009 and was a very special day for all concerned. It involved a traditional Whit Walk with brass bands and choir and was attended by more than two thousand people. The special guest of honour was the Dream creator, Jaume Plensa and 10-year-old Nikita Lacey of Sutton Manor Primary School had the honour of being crowned May Queen. The schoolchildren, led by teacher Les Dunning, had been involved in their own Dream-related heritage project and a spin-off from their efforts had been the creation of a Shining Lights Heritage Group led by Marian White. All had contributed much to make the day happen.

Since then, as mentioned in this page's introduction, Dream has proved the cynics and critics wrong. It's created enormous interest and given much pleasure to many people. At the time of its opening, there were three police dispersal zones in the St.Helens borough that gave the police increased powers to combat anti-social behaviour. Of these two were in the Sutton Manor district. As Dream's funding would have gone to other arts projects in other towns, surely this ambitious attempt to improve this part of the world by the former pit men and friends should be applauded? However, the Dream team are not resting on their laurels with plans to illuminate the artwork, improve its accessibility and increase motorway visibility, with some tree pruning planned by the Forestry Commission who manage the woodland site.

In Janet Street-Porter's highly critical piece in the Independent, the columnist claimed that Dream would be one of the "follies of our age". It's hard to see how giving pleasure to so many people can in any way be considered foolish. Only time will tell whether it will be able to retain its popularity, of course, but this website is proud of this addition to our community's landscape which both celebrates the past heritage of the site and looks forward positively to the future.

Former Sutton Manor Colliery miners Frank Leach, Mel Moran, Gary Conley, Brian Salkeld and Terry Murray of the Big Art Focus Group at the official opening of Dream

The Dream team of former Sutton Manor miners Frank Leach, Mel Moran, Gary Conley, Brian
Salkeld and Terry Murray of the Focus Group at the official opening on May 31st (contributed pic)

c)The Making of Dream Media

Click the image above LEFT to view a BBC North West Tonight video of the construction of Dream
Click the image above RIGHT to view a BBC North West Tonight video on Dream's media ‘unveiling’

Click to Hear Gary Conley on Radio 4 Midweek with Libby Purves Discussing 'Dream' (9'19")

On 6th May 2009, former miner Gary Conley of the St.Helens Big Art Focus Group, who were instrumental in commissioning the Dream sculpture, discussed in conversation with Libby Purves and other guests on her Radio 4 Midweek programme how the ex-Sutton Manor Colliery miners chose the artwork and what it represents to them and the people of St.Helens.

Click to Hear Gary Conley of the St.Helens Mining Focus Group speaking with Jon Snow
and fellow panelists at the Art Fund's Big Art debate at the RSA (8'39")
On 20th May 2009 Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow chaired an Art Fund's Big Art debate at the RSA. Gary Conley explained to Jon and other guests why Jaume Plensa’s initial concept of a miners lamp statue was rejected in favour of the Dream design. (Complete 79 minute RSA debate here) Video Link to RSA Debate

Click an image above for a live feed from the Highways Agency of a webcam or jamcam that's often - though not always - pointed at Dream in Sutton Manor

This website has been independently written and researched and the majority of images taken by the Sutton Beauty & Heritage site owner, Stephen Wainwright. All rights are reserved but my images and text content can be re-used if a credit is given. High resolution versions of many images can be supplied on request at no charge. Other images are used for heritage and educational purposes and are believed to be in the public domain. This site takes a responsible attitude to copyright and where appropriate I endeavour to obtain permission from rights holders. This is not always possible and you are encouraged to contact me to resolve any rights issue or if you require accreditation for the use of any picture.

Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do contact me if you believe there are any errors, with details of all corrections contained within the site's update history page which also details the regular updates. If you have any further Sutton information or photographs that you would like to share in this project, I would be delighted to hear from you. This website always credits any assistance given. Thank you! SRW