Following on from my publishing Milton Keynes The City of Legend I began the New Year with a weekly on-line social media celebration of our City’s legends MK Today.
I was going to share something later in the Spring about the demise of Leon Dinosaur at the hands of Milton Keynes Council but following people contacting me I am here advancing such publication.
PLEASE – we must not allow our iconic dinosaur to be hit by asteroids by Milton Keynes Council.
This is the entire chapter from my book. PLEASE read what I
am trting to say and reverse the negligent destruction of Milton Keynes
Council.
As I write this chapter I am very nervous and fearful of failure. As I will explain the mission I want to invite you to join me on has failure on its horizon, that horizon has a meteorites within its darkness.
Milton Keynes has been hit by a meteorite ! It was the twin brother of the inter-stellar missile
Can we rescue the once iconic Leon Dinosaur from extinction ?
Let
me tell you his story in some mini chapters:
Jurassic Classic – words from Not The Concrete Cows
How Leonasaurus
Rex Was Born
Negligence And Failure
21st November 2021
November 2022
2023 And A Space To Watch
Jurassic Classic:
Steven Speilberg - Jurassic Park ? Forget it. Crowds flocking to cinema screens up and down the country, media hype, marketing bandwagons covering everything from tee shirts to birthday cakes. Anyone would think that Mr Speilberg and Universal Studios invented the species. Well the silver screen mogul is very much mistaken, Milton Keynes has had its own Jurassic Classic for years.
Every British Rail passenger travelling up and down the main line through Bletchloey could be forgiven for thinking themselves victims of a time warp. Either that or perhaps they wonder if the eighty thirty-two out of Euston has taken a wrong turning and ended up in Hollywood California. For there, snarling at all and towering thirty feet above its surroundings is a life size Tyrannosaurus ! Our very own Leonasaurus Rex.
But this specimen is, for the most part, friendly and being constructed out of reinforced concrete not likely to terrorise anyone. Living at the bottom of Leon School's playing field this particular dinosaur was built under the direction of local artist Bill Billings. During the spring and summer of 1991 Bill and a team of Leon students dug out foundations and erected a steel frame support before casting the beast in concrete.
Although Central Television showed an initial interest in the statue it has entered the landmark scene of Milton Keynes and been taken so much for granted it is anything but forgotten. But T Rex is not the only one of Bill Billings Jurassic creations to roam the city. A few miles along Marlborough Street, at Peartree Bridge, is Triceratops again sculptured in concrete and this particular dinosaur came to live in Milton Keynes fifteen years ago.
Standing in the grounds of the Interaction project at The Old Rectory, Peartree Bridge, this dinosaur has been featured in a Bon Jovi video and was, for a time, the subject of the most popular selling post card of Milton Keynes. Unfortunately the trees along the V8 have matured now to the point where the sculpture can no longer be seen from the road. But next time you are in the area turn off towards Waterside and admire this particular landmark.
So Mr Speilberg you may have become a legend in your own time but so, in Milton Keynes, has Bill Billings. Then when your Jurassic Park is consigned to the discount shelves of the video stores then repeated every Boxing Day on our televisions Bill's creations will still be in their youth. And who knows Bill may have another Jurassic Classic in mind to graze on the planes of our city !
The original text from my 1994 book Not The Concrete Cows. Now, all these years later, what are your memories of Leonasaurus Rex ?
How Leonasaurus
Rex Was Born:
During my time as Head of Year at Leon School I was privileged to serve under two different headmasters: Mr D B Bradshaw and Bruce Abbott, two very different characters but both amazing headmasters who loved their schools and gifted so much to their students. One day Bruce Abbott came into my office and said he wanted an iconic statue building on the school field, something which would raise the profile of the school. He then added: Dave Ashford I want you to make it happen !
Thank You Mr Abbott !
Abbott's original idea was to have a series of Easter Island Head style constructions running the entire length of the school field, all could be seen from passengers on trains heading into Milton Keynes. I thought that was a little ambitious and wanted to build on the developing legend surrounding the Peartree Bridge Dinosaur.
If the dinosaur were built in the bottom corner of the school field it would be clearly visible from the railway and be the first thing passengers saw on their way into the new city. I persuaded Headmaster Abbott to go along with Leon Dinosaur.
First thing I had to do was to make a planning application which was easily granted. I was interviewed by Central Television on the site where the dinosaur would stand but sadly the station did not engage as construction began.
With planning permission I persuaded Bill Billings, who had built the Peartree Dinosaur, to give us Leon Dinosaur. Within the chapter here in Milton Keynes The City of Legend celebrating Milton Keynes Worthies I have named Bill as one who gave Milton Keynes so much heritage.
In the early days of Milton Keynes, in the 1970's, lorry driver Brian Billings came from London to work on the building sites of the New City.
It was far, far more than houses Brian, better known as Bill, had a hand in building. In 1980 his
Bill was not the concrete cows, not the originals anyway. These were three cows and three calves built by artist Liz Leyh in 1978. It was The BBC's DJ and presenter Noel Edmunds who made the cows famous. He was forever making jokes saying how Milton Keynes was closing farms to build houses and factories so throwing out the real cows but replacing them with concrete cows to match the concrete fields !
Too fragile now to be left in the open those original cows are in a museum, but their replacement are indeed the work of Bill Billings.
Bill gave us a wonderful display near Wolverton a display which is itself a picture of heritage today.
Construction of our Leon Dinosaur was fun, big time and the teenagers were so excited and enthused by Bill. Bill did not so engage with many of my colleagues and certainly not the caretaking team, I was constantly piggy in the middle and peace-maker. However, Headmaster Bruce's Abbott's dream came to fruition as did mine and Leonasaurus became a major Milton Keynes landmark.
The story does not stop there. Students who were involved in the building of the statue tell me a time capsule was buried at the site. I cannot say I have any recollection of this but clearly something happened
Bill did not construct another dinosaur, he went on to many other exciting projects but when Bruce Abbott retired dinosaurs took over the management of Leon School.
Negligence And Failure:
When the dinosaurs within the school’s later management decided it wanted to dismantle the statue there was public outcry among residents on the Lakes Estate. Sadly that did not stop the mental fossils from having their way as Leonasaurus was expelled from Leon School to a new home at The Warren Playground. There it stands today where it has been hit by an asteroid.
21st November 2021:
Today I visited our dinosaur this morning and found him ill, TERMINALLY ILL and suffering from serious NEGLECT !
Leonasaurus is on his death bed.
First of all as I approached the iconic sculpture it looked to me as if he had been on a day trip to Bristol the world’s capital of scruffy graffiti ! Who ever thought this was an appropriate costume for Leonasaurus to wear !
If you visit the Peartree Bridge Dinosaur you will find a simple notice of heritage explaining this is the work of our late community artist Bill Billings. My thinking was to have something similar for Leonasaurus.
The dinosaur was Leon School Headmaster Bruce Abbott’s idea. He delegated it to me to project manage. It was Bill Billings and the Leon Students of 1991/1992 who made it happen. I DO NOT want my name on any plaque but IDO WANT Bruce Abbott and Bill Billings to be acknowledged along with the Leonite students working within the project.
Leonasaurus is thirty years old but unless something is done as a matter of urgency he will vanish completely from sight.
Not only is our dinosaur covered in this hideous graffiti which presumably somebody considers to be art but that art cannot cover up the crumbling exterior.
Yes I am angry and I hope my anger is coming out in these words ! I am angry that the work of Bruce Abbott, Bill Billings and Leonite Students is being treated with such disrespect. I am angry that this yet again a failure on the part of Milton Keynes Council. Passionate as I am about our heritage, something I have been writing about for more than thirty years, I am angry that this icon of heritage is about to vanish from our community !
I shared those words from November 2021 on social media. The response was overwhelming save for one member of the local town council who attacked me on social media saying the dinosaur was part of a regeneration plan. So great was my support on social media that Milton Keynes Citizen picked up on the situation and ran an article.
The person engaged by Milton Keynes Council to review the situation on Bletchley’s Lakes Estate within a regeneration programme contacted me and picked my brains. We were going to meet at the dinosaur but not for a few weeks. Those weeks have now become a year ! Publishing this book in January 2023 one year and three months.
November 2022:
November 2022 I returned to check on the health of our dinosaur. He is holding on but unless he is given urgent attention his life will soon be at its end.
I am hoping our dinosaur can hold on until this book is published.
2023 And A Space To Watch:
Firstly I
want to use the publication of this book to launch a petition to remove
Leonasaurus from the negligent care of Milton Keynes Council.
I would like to see him placed into the care of a small group of trustees. These trustees can take responsibility to organise the urgent surgery needed before moving our friend to a new home.
Where ? Back to his original home at the bottom of Leon School field where Bill Billings and Leonite students constructed him. Back to where Headmaster Bruce Abbott wanted him to be the first thing passengers on trains from London heading into the New City of Milton Keynes would see. The responsibility of care for our dinosaur would remain in the care of the trustees and not be burdened onto the school.
Yes, this was my project but I was only the co-ordinator. It was Bruce Abbott’s idea and Bill Billing’s with Leonites who built our dinosaur. Both Bruce and Bill passed away some time ago. Responsibility falls on my shoulders to save this icon from the failing hands of Milton Keynes Council.
Am I not right in thinking NASA has developed the technology to fire a missile and divert the
I
said as I began to write this chapter that I am very nervous and fearful of
failure. I am still very nervous and fearful of failure. How tragic it will be
if that failure destroys Leonasaurus Rex.
I am hoping this special edition of MK Today will help save our dinosaur.
I AM NOT LOOKING TO MILTON KEYNES COUNCIL WHICH HAVE OVERSEEN THIS TRAGIC SITUATION.
I am hoping that REAL people rescue this legend.
I remember being in 8More and helping on the 1st week of this build, collecting bricks from the Bletchley brickworks with a few others in Bill's VW Camper bus. Maybe MK museum in Wolverton can re-home it next to the cows.
ReplyDelete