Angel watches (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Angel watches

Sculptor Jane Rickards at workNURSING will meet the Air Force in a sculpture that will be the centrepiece of a Wroughton housing development and create an Angel Of The South.

Wiltshire sculptor Jane Rickards won a competition to create the sculpture on the site of the former RAF Queen Alexandra Hospital where 183 homes are being built.

And her work will reflect the previous use of the site, as it will be an angel.

Paul Crispin, the managing director of developer David Wilson Homes Southern, praised the design of the planned sculpture.

"We had five excellent designs to choose from but Jane Rickard's design stood out because of its relevance to the history of Wroughton," he said.

"Her design reflects the imagery of a ministering angel how nurses are often regarded and the execution of the metal wings echoes the construction of aircraft."

Jane, of Marlborough, is working with a 12ft-high column of dark gray Kilkenny limestone, studded with white fossils.

It will be fitted with two shot-blasted steel wings creating a 12 feet circle around the stone.

"I have known this piece of stone for some time and was keen to find a commission where its monolithic appearance would dominate and link it to Avebury and Wiltshire as a county," said Jane.

"Equally, through my stepfather I have RAF connections, moving around the world as an RAF child.

"The aircraft-like wings will be made by in Devizes and riveted and welded into position."

Jane is based in Marlborough but studied at Swindon Art College under Cyril Medlin, who inspired her in her work as a fine art sculptor. Her recent works include the Templar Stone at Temple Quay in Bristol.

The project is funded by David Wilson Homes in support of Swindon Council's Per Cent For Art scheme which encourages developers, through the planning process, to allocate money towards commissioning contemporary art for new areas of housing.

The finished work, which will be unveiled next summer, will be placed on a green space in the centre of the Alexandra Park development.

David Wilson Homes has already built 15 homes on the site and a number of families have moved in.