I was watching a TV show produced by my favorite funnyman Peter Kay of Bolton, Phoenix nights and Paddy and Max fame (well fame in Lancashire anyway) when I saw The Angel of the North. Antony Gormley, was commissioned to create a sculpture on the site of a former colliery pithead at Gateshead. Gormley chose as his subject – an angel – in memory of the thousands of men who worked below the ground in often appalling conditions. He explains: “People are always asking, why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them”. If you have ever had doubts about the power of imagination and the power of icons to evoke emotion, this incredible sculpture will silence them. At 20 meters (65 feet) high with a wingspan of 54 meters (175 feet) it soars from its grassy hilltop as a beacon for the skills, the achievements and the stubborn courage of the people of the North-East. Move over Rio. Hello Gateshead.
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