AN artwork which immortalises three local heroes of a Northumberland market town has been officially installed as part of a national campaign to promote sustainable travel.
The Portrait Bench has been unveiled in Gallagher Park, Bedlington, with about 150 people turning up for the ceremony.
It honours local animal welfare campaigner Mary Weightman, former GP John Brown and locomotive designer Sir Daniel Gooch, and has been installed on a new 15-mile network of cycleways in south east Northumberland.
The trio were chosen for inclusion in a poll by local people, and the Portrait Bench is one of 79 which will sit alongside new stretches of lottery-funded cycle routes developed by sustainable transport charity Sustrans across the UK.
Mary Weightman – who was born in Bedlington in 1906 and died six years ago – was awarded an MBE in 1998 for her selfless work with the charity People’s Animal Welfare Service.
A lifelong animal lover who joined the RSPCA as a young woman, Mrs Weightman and a friend, Charles Beaumont, established PAWS in 1954 and raised the money to open a clinic in Millbank Road, Bedlington.
Local GP Dr John Brown served the community for more than 50 years, giving up much of his time to voluntarily help the town’s mining community, teaching miners first aid and often going down the pits himself to treat injured workers.
Daniel Gooch grew up in Bedlington and learned his trade at the town’s ironworks. He went on to work for Brunel and designed and produced more than 340 locomotives, including the Great Western.
Sustrans area manager James Adamson, said: “The Bedlington artwork honours three very prominent members of the local community and is something to put a bit of pride into the area.”
