Statement: Mining Statue

Following recent press articles referring to the court case of Mr. Dave Harvey, Cinderford Town Council wishes to make clear that the statue in the centre of Cinderford is not a statue of Mr. Harvey, but a generic model sculpted by Anthony Dufort who used Mr. Harvey as a model to ensure the statue represented an authentic forest miner.

The plaque on the statue is inscribed:

‘A tribute to the miners of the Forest of Dean, commissioned in the year 2000 by the Cinderford Labour Party and Cinderford Town Council’

Although Mr. Harvey was the model for the sculptor, the statue was unveiled by ex-miner Eric ‘ky’ Warren in recognition of the mining heritage of the forest. Robin Morgan (now deceased), the Freeminer who owned Hopewell Colliery was originally asked to be the model, however, he was too busy to commit the number of hours required to sit, so Dave Harvey, as another freeminer, was asked to do it.

Please respect this statue for what it is, a lasting tribute to our mining heritage and the many men that worked and lost their lives in the pits.