Tibetan Peace Garden, Southwark

The overall design of the Tibetan Peace Garden symbolises the meeting of East and West, by bringing together contemporary western imagery with traditional Tibetan culture. The circular shape of the garden, for example, is based on the fundamental Buddhist image, the Wheel of Dharma. 

As you walk into the Tibetan Peace Garden, the first thing you come across is the Language Pillar. Built in Portland stone, its design is based on the famous Sho Pillar in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. It carries His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message of peace and harmony in four languages: Tibetan, Hindi, English and Chinese. The pillar is topped by 'precious jewels' set upon three steps representing peace, understanding and love.

Walking from the pillar towards the garden, you will see in the pathway a circular logo, cast in bronze and set in Kilkenny stone. The two Tibetan syllables in the centre mean 'Virtue' and 'Foundation', and the six 'vajras' represent the perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration and wisdom as well as the six mythological families of the Tibetan people. This is the logo of the Tibet Foundation, who commissioned the Tibetan Peace Garden.

'Herd of Hope' by Gillie and Marc

The 'Herd of Hope' is a collection of 21 life-sized bronze elephants that have been exhibited in London to raise awareness of elephant poaching and endangerment, in Africa.

The sculptures are the work of Gillie and Marc Schattner.

The herd began its London journey in Marble Arch before moving to Spitalfields, where you can get up close and personal with these majestic animals.

Each elephant is modelled after a real orphaned elephant and each sculpture has a QR code, which links to videos about the orphan's rescue.

The sculptures consist of 21 elephants, led by a matriarch and 20 smaller elephants, each with its own personality.

From August 10 until August 17, the statues will all come together in a line, on Brushfield Street, to pay tribute to the elephants in the wild and the conservation efforts carried out to help protect them. 

This coincides with 'World Elephant Day', which is on August 12.

You can find out more about the 'Herd of Hope' by clicking the link below.

Herd of Hope

You can view sculptures, by Gillie and Marc, that have been seen in London by clicking the link below.

Sculptures by Gillie and Marc

'John Betjeman' by Martin Jennings

To mark the opening of St Pancras International as the terminus for the High-Speed rail link, between London and Europe, a statue of Sir John Betjeman was unveiled.

John Betjeman had been an advocate of Victorian architecture and, in the 1960s, had campaigned to have St Pancras station, and the adjacent hotel, saved from demolition.

Sir John Betjeman CBE (1906-1984).

Born in London he lived in Gospel Oak until the family moved to Highgate, in 1909. T.S. Eliot was one of John's early tutors, at Highgate School. Following this he was sent to boarding school at Dragon School preparatory school, Oxford, and then Marlborough College, Wiltshire. He left Marlborough College in 1925.

His next education came when he entered Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where one of his tutors was C.S. Lewis. Neither men seemed to get on, with C.S. Lewis stating that "Betjeman would not achieve honours in any class." Betjeman was expelled from Oxford, in 1928, after failing the Pass school and only achieving a satisfactory result in one of three required papers, Shakespeare and other English authors.

Between 1930-1935 Betjeman worked for the Architectural Review as an assistant editor.

'Peter Pan' by Sir George Frampton

Walking through Kensington Gardens, near the Long Water, you will discover this bronze sculpture of Peter Pan.

J.M. Barrie lived nearby, on Bayswater Road, and said that Kensington Gardens inspired his stories and so commissioned a statue that was designed by Sir George Frampton, 

J.M. Barrie was said to be disappointed with the final sculpture, complaining that it "didn't show the Devil in Peter".

'Girl with a Dolphin' by David Wynne

On the north bank of the River Thames, just east of Tower Bridge, there is a wonderful fountain of a girl swimming with a dolphin.

It is a stunning sculpture that has stood on this spot since 1973 and is passed by millions of visitors, each year. Because of its location, beside Tower Bridge, it offers some great photo opportunities.

This bronze sculpture is the work of David Wynne, who, throughout his career, focussed much of his work on animals. His most famous piece is 'Guy the Gorilla' in Crystal Palace Park.

David Wynne studied zoology at Cambridge University, but this just led him to become a sculptor.

In order to get this statue correct, David swam with a dolphin for hours, feeling that this more practical approach would make the sculpture more realistic.

His approach worked, as this bronze sculpture seems to have caught a moment in time. The young girl, with her hair trailing behind her, is swimming down, while the dolphin rises to meet her,

Because this is a bronze sculpture, David Wynne had to use double cantilevers to ensure that the weight of the bronze could be held, thereby ensuring 'Girl with a dolphin' would continue to swim, for years to come.

'Girl with a dolphin' has a twin. On Cheyne way, Chelsea, there is a similar statue named 'Boy with a dolphin'. It depicts a boy, modelled on David's son, Roly, holding on to the dolphin's fin as they swim through the water. 

This sculpture was unveiled in 1974..

Tragically, Roly took his own life in 1999, so his father dedicated the statue to Roly.

David Wynne died in 2014.