Dinosaur v Cow - which is your fav ?

You've heard of T Rex of course..... This is L Rex....Leonosaurus Rex.

When Headmaster Bruce Abbott came up with an idea for an iconic sculpture on the school paying field he said: Dave Ashford you are in charge.

Thank you very much Mr Abbott !

Let's have something from T Rex shall we.....

I engaged local community artist, Bill Billings, he who

produced The Peartree Bridge Dinosaur, to construct Leonosaurus.

Headmaster Bruce wanted something different but he had delegated the task to me so what I wanted was what happened.

I deliberately had the sculpture positioned in such a location that it would be the first thing passengers travelling into Milton Keynes from London would see. Overnight it became the icon we wanted.

Something more from T Rex.....

Sadly after Bruce Abbott left Leon School a succession of less than visionary heads followed.

Leonasaurus was ignominiously expelled !  He found his new home in The Warren on Bletchley's Lakes Estate.

Artist Bill Billings was fantastic working with the teenagers but with my colleagues and certainly the caretaking team he proved shall we say....Difficult !  I was in the middle as peacemaker.

Taking our cameras to Leonasaurus today as part of

our legend project was for me an exciting trip down memory lane.

Josh ascended this climbing frame saying it was to get a better view of the sculpture but note he did not have the camera with him ! LOL.

Prior to visiting Leonasaurus we had been in search of The Concrete Cows. OK, it was not hard finding them but at the same time it was not easy.

Sadly it feels to me that the cows have lost their notoriety and iconic status within Milton Keynes.

These are actually NOT the concrete cows. The originals are in MK Museum, these are replicas by - GUESS WHO - Bill Billings !

In a beautiful, well-kept setting we were the ONLY people with the cows. A beautiful, well-kept setting with the cows in perfect condition but what I found sad was the fact that there was no sign, no plaque of credit to what I believe is the greatest landmark in Milton Keynes.

The work we are doing, gathering photographs and material for a book WE ARE THE CONCRETE COWS is very much in its infancy. Publication date is likely to be August 2021.

Jelena insisted she take this picture. NO Lena we are NOT going to use me trying to milk a concrete cow on the cover of the new book.

Who remembers this TV theme.

Peraps we should go back, give Josh a lasso and take another picture for the front of the book !