As the old direction sign in Bumpy Lane was old and worn, Clive (Arnold) and Jon (Miles) decided it was time to replace it with something more eye-catching.
A site visit revealed that the old pole had in fact rusted right through and had fallen over into the adjacent brook - which encouraged us to work a bit faster and this little project quickly turned into a multi-agency effort;
1. Southill Estates and the farmer, David Hall, kindly gave permission to erect a new sign on their land.
2. Elstow Parish Council gave permission for Alasdair Bright existing 'Pilgrim' artwork to be used and Alasdair kindly adapted the artwork - adding the required new captions - for free.
3. Southill Estate purchased us a new pole.
4. David Hall created a gateway, formed a new pedestrian access beside it and erected the new pole.
5. Bedford Borough then found some money to pay for the sign to be manufactured and installed.
6. Yesterday, Metrosigns installed the sign plates.
A big 'Thank you' to everyone who helped make this project happen.
Clive, Jon and Elstow Parish Council are now working on producing an interpretation board, which will be installed at the actual birth site - to provide a little reward for those hardy pilgrims who walk the half mile from Bumpy Lane to the birthplace. Hopefully, this will be installed in late May.
This trio are also working on producing a brand new double-sided plate for the sign on Elstow green, as the existing one has paint problems. Alasdair has produced a wonderful new Vanity fair illustration for the west side and we will be using his 'Pilgrim' character illustration, for the east side. Alasdair's new illustration of Vanity fair will also appear on the birthplace interpretation board.
A site visit revealed that the old pole had in fact rusted right through and had fallen over into the adjacent brook - which encouraged us to work a bit faster and this little project quickly turned into a multi-agency effort;
1. Southill Estates and the farmer, David Hall, kindly gave permission to erect a new sign on their land.
2. Elstow Parish Council gave permission for Alasdair Bright existing 'Pilgrim' artwork to be used and Alasdair kindly adapted the artwork - adding the required new captions - for free.
3. Southill Estate purchased us a new pole.
4. David Hall created a gateway, formed a new pedestrian access beside it and erected the new pole.
5. Bedford Borough then found some money to pay for the sign to be manufactured and installed.
6. Yesterday, Metrosigns installed the sign plates.
A big 'Thank you' to everyone who helped make this project happen.
Clive, Jon and Elstow Parish Council are now working on producing an interpretation board, which will be installed at the actual birth site - to provide a little reward for those hardy pilgrims who walk the half mile from Bumpy Lane to the birthplace. Hopefully, this will be installed in late May.
This trio are also working on producing a brand new double-sided plate for the sign on Elstow green, as the existing one has paint problems. Alasdair has produced a wonderful new Vanity fair illustration for the west side and we will be using his 'Pilgrim' character illustration, for the east side. Alasdair's new illustration of Vanity fair will also appear on the birthplace interpretation board.