{"id":132675,"date":"2025-11-10T19:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/132675\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T19:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:26:10","slug":"new-120000-statue-unveiled-in-historic-lowestoft-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/132675\/","title":{"rendered":"New \u00a3120,000 statue unveiled in historic Lowestoft ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Dreams became reality as a new \u00a3120,000 statue depicting the world famous composer, conductor and pianist, Benjamin Britten, was unveiled in his birth town of Lowestoft.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The Britten as a Boy statue is officially unveiled in Lowestoft. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n The 12ft bronze statue of Britten, as a boy, looking out over the sea that inspired his music in his hometown was showcased for the first time today (Monday).\n<\/p>\n

\n The special ceremony and unveiling of the monument marked an almost five-year community campaign<\/a> to install a statue near where Britten had drawn his musical inspiration from.\n<\/p>\n

\n The official unveiling of the new \u00a3120,000 statue of Britten as a Boy in Lowestoft. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n After being installed at Lord Kitchener’s Garden on Kirkley Cliff in south Lowestoft<\/a> – not far away from Britten’s childhood home at 21 Kirkley Cliff Road – there were cheers and loud applause on a drizzly Monday as composer Sir John Rutter – who sang for Britten on the 1963 recording of the War Requiem – unveiled the new statue.\n<\/p>\n

\n The community project had been launched in April 2022<\/a> so the statue could inspire generations of children to follow their dreams.\n<\/p>\n

\n Composer Sir John Rutter and Zeb Soanes at the official unveiling of the new Britten as a Boy statue in Lowestoft. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n The Britten as a Boy statue committee of Lowestoft-born broadcaster and children\u2019s author Zeb Soanes and a team of passionate locals had set about raising the \u00a3120,000 more than three-and-a-half years ago.\n<\/p>\n

\n Two heritage information boards focus on Britten\u2019s childhood in Lowestoft and his later success as a composer. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n And there were celebrations all round as the monument was unveiled<\/a> to a fine turnout – including many supporters and members of Benjamin Britten\u2019s family – just 12 days ahead of what would have been his 112th birthday.\n<\/p>\n

\n One of the two bronze plaques accompanying the statue. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n Admitting it was a “gift to the town”, Mr Soanes said: “Britten loved Lowestoft.\n<\/p>\n

\n “He lived here until he was 21 and we wanted to celebrate the influence that his childhood in this town had on his life and the music that he composed.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Two heritage information boards focus on Britten\u2019s childhood in Lowestoft and his later success as a composer. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n During the “short historic ceremony”, the legal transfer of this “gift” to East Suffolk Council – on whose land that the statue stands – was completed as it received by council chairman, Cllr Anthony Speca.\n<\/p>\n

\n Unveiling the “marvellous” statue, Sir John Rutter said: “We should be proud.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Children from St Mary’s Primary School in Lowestoft, who sang the specially-commissioned song a the unveiling of the Britten as a Boy statue. Image: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)\n<\/p>\n

\n The statue, created by the UK\u2019s foremost sculptor in bronze, Ian Rank-Broadley, was unveiled to the crowds as What Bliss is Home – with music by Suffolk composer Ben Parry and lyrics by Zeb Soanes – was sung by St Mary\u2019s Primary School children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dreams became reality as a new \u00a3120,000 statue depicting the world famous composer, conductor and pianist, Benjamin Britten,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-132675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}