A magnificently sculptured cow’s head commissioned through voluntary donations from the community of Sturminster Newton was officially unveiled in the town’s Railway Gardens.

When locals saw that a horse’s head sculpture loaned by Councillor Carole Jones and her husband Martin had replaced the Elisabeth Frink artwork which for many years had stood on the plinth outside The Exchange, they asked why it was not something more appropriate and representative of the town, made famous by its 700-year-old cattle market.

Mrs Jones launched a Justgiving appeal, challenging people to put their money behind the idea, and within weeks £1,500 was raised, together with a pledge of match funding from a generous anonymous local donor.

The resulting £3,000 was used to commission and purchase the cow’s head fashioned out of recycled nuts, screws, pliers, scissors, spanners and springs by Mark Galbavy of the Dorset Forge & Fabrication in North Wootton. The town council agreed that it should be sited on land in their ownership in the Railway Gardens, rather than on the plinth which is owned by The Exchange, and supporters gathered to toast the new arrival in the raised bed sensory garden, which has been replanted with lavender plants by Stour Connect.

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