A statue of one of Britain’s most celebrated composers Benjamin Britten, as a boy, is set to be installed looking out over the sea that inspired him in his birth town of Lowestoft.

Works are under way at Lord Kitchener’s Garden on Kirkley Cliff in south Lowestoft in preparation for the installation.

The monument of Britten as a Boy will be cast in bronze as it is “Coming to Lowestoft seafront soon”, according to the Britten as a Boy statue committee.

The statue is set to be unveiled close to his childhood home at 21 Kirkley Cliff Road on a site close to one of Britten’s early schools – South Lodge School, which he attended from the age of eight and is now the Claremont Pier car park.

Benjamin Britten. Picture: Supplied(Image: Supplied)

Benjamin Britten went on to become a central figure of 20th-century British music and was renowned as an outstanding composer, conductor, and pianist.

He was made a Freeman of Lowestoft in 1951.

Groundworks are under way at Lord Kitchener’s Garden on Kirkley Cliff in south Lowestoft.(Image: Mick Howes)

The works at Lord Kitchener’s Garden, between the promenade and the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre, began on the statue site in recent weeks.

They are expected to be completed by October ahead of receiving the statue – which was sculpted by the Royal sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley – from the foundry.

Groundworks are under way at Lord Kitchener’s Garden on Kirkley Cliff in south Lowestoft.(Image: Mick Howes)

An official unveiling date is likely to be “announced in due course”.

The statue, including its development, has cost around £120,000.

The inscription for the Britten as a Boy statue. Picture: Britten as a Boy committee(Image: Britten as a boy committee)

It will be accompanied by two bronze plaques, one describing the work and the other listing the principal donors.

Campaigners from the Britten as a Boy statue committee launched an appeal to raise the monies for the monument back in April 2022.

Zeb Soanes, Ruth Wharrier and Ian Rank-Broadley with the finished clay sculpture.(Image: Britten as a boy committee)

And dreams became reality following the three-year community project, as it was unanimously approved by East Suffolk Council’s planning committee north in July.