Dream

On a sleety,windswept day

we drove for many hours to the North

for a funeral.

The death brought

a mixture of relief and sadness for her family.
She was very old and had been very ill.

My son dreamed of her shortly after her death

on March 25th.

She was young and full of life.

This statue, Dream overlooks a busy motorway

 not far from the colliery

where her husband spent most of his working life.

It is 20 metres high and depicts a girl's head with her eyes closed.

The sculptor Jaume Piensa said,

'I learnt a lot through talking with the miners. 

All they spoke about was darkness 

and I wanted something to reflect the light. 

Light becomes a dream when you are working in darkness.'

Gary Conley, a former Sutton Manor miner, said,

'I never envisaged that on top of this former 

colliery spoil heap we would have

 something of such beauty. 

In the years I worked at Sutton Manor Colliery

 seeing the hustle and bustle, 

along with the dirt, smoke, steam and coal 

produced on that very spot, 

I would never have guessed that years later 

it would become 

somewhere peaceful and serene, 

where families would want to visit to admire Dream 

and its panoramic surroundings.
I often have to pinch myself to realise I'm not in a dream! 

I feel proud and honoured to have been part of this project.'

And after the funeral we visited her

youngest great grand-daughter

who dreams of ponies,

to give her a present -

a stable made by my grandfather

for a little girl who no longer needs it.