In February the Pont y Werin steering group asked Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan residents for their help in choosing a local hero, celebrity or historic figure to be a part of the Pont y Werin portrait bench.
The portrait benches feature a laser cut outline of three life size individuals, with a bench placed on either side of the river.
The Portrait Bench is a UK wide art project from sustainable transport charity Sustrans with each bench featuring three life-size sculptures which are laser-cut from weathering Corten steel. There will be nearly 80 installed across the country with Pont y Werin having two benches placed on it –
one representing Cardiff and one for the Vale of Glamorgan.
Once again the residents of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan got behind the project and put their thinking caps on to nominate who they felt should be immortalised on the bridge.
The steering group, which includes local councillors, council officers, residents of Cardiff and Penarth, plus local cycling groups and representatives from Cardiff and Vale Coalition of the Disabled, had the hard task of whittling down the nominations.
After talking through the public’s nominations, the group decided that Sybil Williams, the founder member of Pedal Power, should feature on the Cardiff bench. Sybil received a number of nominations, and as one nominee noted Sybil has brought, ‘health and fun to hundreds of diverse people every week.’
Alongside Sybil on the Cardiff bench will be Cardiff Devils player, Jason Stone. Jason received the most nominations from the public and given his history with the Devils, playing for them for over 21 years, the steering group felt Jason would be a perfect choice for the portrait bench.
For the Vale of Glamorgan’s bench, the steering group selected Nicole Cooke. The Vale-born Olympic gold medallist was the perfect choice. She received the highest amount of votes from the residents of the Vale of Glamorgan and has always been a keen supporter of the bridge, urging people to get behind and vote for the project back in 2007.
Joining Nicole on the Vale side will be Paralympic gold medallist, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Like Nicole, Tanni received a high number of votes from the public and has been a keen supporter of the bridge, speaking publicly about the benefits it will bring to pedestrians, cyclists and disabled people.
For the remaining place on each bridge, a special competition took place for the nearest schools to the bridge, Mount Stuart Primary School for Cardiff and Cogan Primary School for the Vale of Glamorgan.
The competition asked pupils to draw a picture of themselves using Pont y Werin and was judged by Cardiff councillors, Cllr Delme Bowen and Cllr Nigel Howells and also Vale of Glamorgan councillors, Cllr Jeff James and Cllr Gordon Kemp.
The winner from Cardiff was Lydia Harris, aged 10. Lydia’s picture showed her using the bridge in the summer, with a sunset in the background. The Vale’s winner was 10-year-old Tim Burns from Cogan. Tim’s colourful drawing shows people walking, running and cycling on the bridge while boats sail by in the background.
Executive Member for Travel and Transportation, Cllr Delme Bowen, said: “We received many wonderful nominations for the portrait benches and it took us a while to select who we wanted to be immortalised on the bridge.
“I feel the people we have selected to be on the benches, represent the people who will benefit from using the bridge. Sybil and Nicole of course represents the cycling community, Tanni reflects how the bridge will make a difference to those with disabilities and Jason and the school pupils represent the many pedestrians who will use the bridge.
“The children produced some wonderful drawings – we chose Lydia’s drawing as her picture depicted a beautiful sunset over the bridge and you could see she had spent a lot of time working on her drawing. >
“I would like to thank everyone who took part in helping us pick who should feature and I am now looking forward to seeing the benches in place on June 8th, when Pont y Werin officially opens to the public.”
Vale of Glamorgan Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation, Cllr Jeff James said: “It was a truly difficult task selecting just two local heroes to be part of this scheme but we feel that Nicole and Tanni, both of whom received the highest amount of nominations from our residents, are fantastic representatives. Their achievements in the sporting world are an inspiration to all and we’re honoured that they will represent the Vale of Glamorgan at Pont y Werin.
“The children of Cogan Primary School all produced wonderful drawings but Tim’s in particular stood out to the judges. His drawing, which shows the progression of someone walking, to running, to cycling, really impressed us, along with the use of bright colours and attention to detail, and really sums up how our residents will benefit from this bridge.
“Many thanks again to the public and Cogan Primary School for helping us with our selections – it really is the people’s bridge.”
Vinny Mott of Sustrans said: “These benches will make distinctive bookends to the bridge itself, not only attractive to look at but for a welcome rest and viewing point too. They feature a range of people reflecting the wide range of bridge users, who will be from all walks of life, all ages, whether very sporty or not at all, but just happy to be able to cross the river under their own steam!”
