Westminster City Council has approved the design and erection of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ bronze relief sculpture in Southampton Street on the wall of the Jubilee Market in Covent Garden.
The bronze, by renowned sculptress Glynis Owen Jones, will show a vivid interpretation of the hustle and bustle of the Old Covent Garden, which was the centre of the country’s fresh fruit and vegetable trade for over 300 years.
Mrs Sheila Springer, whose husband Barry was well known in the market for many years and who masterminded the concept behind the memorial, said that the planning permission means the operation of fund raising and constructing the bronze can now go ahead at full speed, so that the memorial is ready for erection during the Fruiterers’ Company’s 400th anniversary in 2006.
The bronze is designed to include 14 plaques bearing the names of companies and individuals who traded in the Old Covent Garden market before it moved to Nine Elms in 1974. Each plaque will cost £3,000.
‘”We have been very encouraged by the interest we have received and the number of confirmations by companies who would like to be remembered in this way,” said Sheila Springer.
Those interested should contact the Clerk to the Fruiterers’ Company, Lt Col Lionel French at clerk@fruiterers.org.uk or on 01985 850682.
