Memorial carving honours First World War fallen heroes

The carvings of a soldier and horse’s head have gone up on Ash Lane in Rustington to remember those who died.

They were carved by Groves Sculpture, a chainsaw carving company in Warningcamp near Arundel, using a tree which fell down in the winter storms.

Ferring Nursery, who look after the gardens in Rustington, commissioned Groves Sculpture to create a memorial for the 100th anniversary of the war.

Mike Harwood, 56, grower for Ferring Nursery said: “It’s absolutely incredible, we’re very proud of it.”

Ferring Nursery’s garden displays in Rustington take a different theme each year for Rustington in Bloom and Mr Harwood felt that with the centenary anniversary of World War One and the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, this year’s display should have a military theme.

He said: “All of the displays have been unique in their own way but I think this is one of the best ones we’ve ever done, we’re very proud of it.”

Simon Groves, owner of Groves Sculptures, was approached by Ferring Nursery to create a fitting war memorial. He said: “It went to the back of my order list until I started researching it.

“Then I immediately started to realise what I was doing and why I was doing it and what it meant to other people.

“Now I’m incredibly proud of it.”

Mr Groves also revealed that he did not have a lot of experience in carving human sculptures so this task represented a significant challenge.

He said: “It was extremely difficult because I’ve only ever done one human sculpture, everything before had been animals and other sculptures.

“With the human form there is no room to manoeuvre because you see people every day, so the dimensions have to be right.

“Mind you, the horses head was quite difficult as well.”

Ferring Nursery raised £2,500 through community events to commission the sculptures.

The sculptures will remain on Ash Lane for four years, the length of World War One, before permanently being moved to Rustington Museum.