{"id":157764,"date":"2025-09-24T15:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/157764\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T15:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:53:11","slug":"new-bridgwater-sculpture-celebrates-romany-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/157764\/","title":{"rendered":"New Bridgwater sculpture celebrates Romany community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A sculpture of a running horse made out of steel. The metal is a light silver colour and the sculpture is not solid, with the main body made out of mostly circular pieces of metal with rods attaching them together. Three of its four hooves are bent and in the air, making it appear as if it is trotting or cantering. The horse's tail has been made with curvy pieces of metal, creating a flowy effect. The sculpture is on a patch of grass in front of what appears to be a barn.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/b44e5ef0-994a-11f0-b42e-f379dfea869d.jpg\"  width=\"764\" height=\"429.99999999999994\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, Seed SedgmoorImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Horse for Bridgwater sculpture has been unveiled at the town&#8217;s fair<\/p>\n<p>ByChris Lockyer,\u00a0Reporting fromin Bridgwater\u00a0and\u00a0Clara Bullock,\u00a0Somerset<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A life-size steel horse sculpture has been unveiled to recognise a town&#8217;s connection to Romany people and remember a young boy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Horse for Bridgwater sculpture was unveiled at the opening of the town&#8217;s annual fair, and aims to recognise the event&#8217;s cultural history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Romany artist Jake Bowers said the horse was about taking Gypsy history and making it &#8220;visible through sculpture&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He said the piece remembers Jessie Smith, a seven-year-old Romany boy who died in a caravan accident on the way to Bridgwater Fair in 1950.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;His older sister is my cousin,&#8221; Mr Bowers added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;When I was looking for places to remember Gypsy history, we decided we should remember little Jessie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A man is standing next to a sculpture of a horse, wearing a black T-Shirt holding the flag symbolising the Romany community. He is holding the flag so it falls vertically, with the left half as you view it green and the right half blue. A red cart wheel sits in the middle of the flag. The sculpture is made of metal, with various loops of silver-coloured steel connected to each other by rods. The horse's neck is bent, as though it is bending towards the man, It is on a patch of grass and a sign is just visible through it which reads 'Welcome ot Bridgwater Fair'.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/30340b50-993c-11f0-869a-3fa4ad43e8ee.jpg\"  width=\"1600\" height=\"899.6869129618034\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Artist Jake Bowers is behind the horse sculpture, which has been installed in Bridgwater<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Parts of the steel horse, which sits at the entrance to the fair&#8217;s field, were made at last year&#8217;s event with the help of visitors at a steel forge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mr Bowers said the fair had always been a key event in the local Romany community&#8217;s calendar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;They would come together to meet people, to see their friends and family, buy and sell horses,&#8221; Mr Bowers said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A crowd of people walk through a busy town fair. There is a large food truck with red writing reading 'CHIPS' in large letters with 'CANDY FLOSS' and 'TOFFEE APPLES' in smaller font underneath. There are other market stalls selling handbags and clothes either side of the walkway.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/516263b0-993e-11f0-869a-3fa4ad43e8ee.jpg\"  width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The sculpture is part of the annual Bridgwater town fair<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Scott O&#8217;Hara from Seed Sedgemoor, which is backing the project, said the fair and livestock markets have taken place on the same site for more than 600 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Jake&#8217;s sculpture is a tribute to that story of continuous meeting of community, tradition and celebration,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It is a new landmark that connects the town&#8217;s past with the people who keep it alive today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Get in touch<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Tell us which stories we should cover in Somerset<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Follow BBC Somerset on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbcsomerset\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook, external<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcsomerset\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X, external<\/a>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via <a href=\"https:\/\/bbc.in\/47DEoQy\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source, Seed SedgmoorImage caption, The Horse for Bridgwater sculpture has been unveiled at the town&#8217;s fair ByChris&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-157764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}