KEN

ANGEL OF THE NORTH

  

 (Photo Credit: Ken)

 

"This is a story about the Angel of The North in which the statue plays no part but the picture of the statue is of the essence. With any luck, this will become clear as the story progresses.

 

One of my wife’s oldest and closest friends has a son who has Down Syndrome. His name is Jed and he is now in his late thirties and has known us all his life. Jed comes to stay with us for a couple of nights, two or three times a month as a break from routine for both him and his parents. We have no children at home now so there is a bedroom reserved for Jed which is decorated and furnished to suit his tastes. There are a number of his favourite pictures hanging in the room which get changed quite often as his tastes change; Spiderman gives way to Supergirl, Sammy Ameobi out, Callum Wilson in. That sort of thing. We also have some pictures of local scenes and when we got a copy of Jessica’s, Angel of The North, it seemed like a good idea to put it in Jed’s room. 

 

On his first visit after the Angel went up, Jed noticed it at once and said how much he liked it and that it was by the man who did the field. This meant nothing to us at first, so we asked him to explain. He told us that he had gone on a school trip to see an exhibition called The Field, which he had obviously been very taken with.

 

After doing a bit of online research and speaking to Jed’s mother, we found out that in March, 1996, Jed had been taken on a school outing from Hewburn School to the Greenesfield British Rail Works in Gateshead, to see an installation of Field For The British Isles by Antony Gormley. The day after the visit, the children were back at school where their teacher gave them a project. They were each to make clay models like those displayed at the exhibition. The children were super enthusiastic, especially as they were told that they could take their finished works home. Jed’s work is still proudly displayed in his home 25 years later and the memory will stay with him, and now with us, forever.

 

Jed’s model, which represents his teacher and some of his schoolmates is pictured above."