THE GUARDIAN: Top 10 small pilgrimage sites

My 1st commission, the statue of Sadako Sasaki, Hedd Wen Peace Place, Abergaveny, features in today’s The Guardian “Spaces for pondering, meditating, praying and ‘being’: 10 of Britain’s best small pilgrimage sites”. Very excited! It was such a privilege to sculpt Sadako, commissioned by Gill Branch.

“In the gardens of a house in the small village of Llanfoist, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, is a statue of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was in Hiroshima when it was bombed and folded hundreds of origami cranes in her hospital bed when she was dying, 10 years later, of radiation-induced leukaemia. Sculpted by Hazel Reeves, the statue was erected as a “focus, in a quiet space for reflection, healing and renewal” and stands opposite a “peace wall”, where written prayers for peace hang in the gardens.” Tamlin Magee, The Guardian, 31 December 2021 (Picture above, The Guardian).