Sculpture given pride of place in Battersea park (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Sculpture The Barrier given pride of place in Pocket Park, Battersea

2:40pm Monday 22nd October 2012 in News

An overlooked piece of artwork so overgrown with moss a bird food box had been installed on it has been restored and officially reopened.

The widow and brother of English scultor Ian Walters, Yolande and Martin Walters, were guests of honour at a ceremony at Pocket Park, Thessaly Road, Battersea celebrating the restoration of The Barrier.

The piece, which was commissioned by the borough's chief librarian in the 1970s, had been gathering moss in the Carey Garden estate until Battersea campaigner Brian Barnes lobbied Wandsworth Council officers to move it to a more fitting location.

Mr Barnes said: "I'm overjoyed that it is now relocated in a public place and that Carey Gardens estate has a famous early work by Ian Walters.

"It is a marvellous honour to have the 1963 early abstract sculpture in our pocket park."

Walters is perhaps best known for his large sculpture of Nelson Mandela's head which sits outside the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank.

The artwork had been outside the former Social Education Centre, but had become so neglected the entire surface was covered with moss and ivy and a bird feed box had been installed before Mr Barnes' intervention.