Ever looked at the memorial in the middle of Horndean square and thought something didn’t look quite right? Something looked out of proportion? Well, you’d be correct. In 1964 the Memorial was involved in a car accident and the large “Goddess of Victory” statue that stood 2 metres tall was damaged beyond repair. At the time, there was no option but to take the statue down and replace her with the lamp (kindly donated by Gales) that we see today.
Only a few pictures survive today of the Goddess in her former glory.
Cllr Schillemore and Cllr Evans are leading a project on behalf of Horndean Parish Council to restore the Goddess to the top of the memorial. Replacing the statue will cost £36,000 and a Horndean Village War Memorial Website has been set up to help raise funds for its reinstatement.
A model of the Goddess is currently on display at Merchistoun Hall to give us a feel of the finished statue. As my youngest attends the Pre-school at Merchistoun Hall, I am fortunate enough to see this everyday. The model is made from wood and clay so unfortunately is very fragile and has many cracks. However, aside from those minor problems it shows what the finished Nike Goddess will look like. The final statue will be carved from Portland stone.
You can see the cracks appearing, but that’s OK it still looks very impressive!
My youngest is here in his pre-school uniform pointing to the Goddess.
Go see it before it disintegrates completely – this is Horndean Village history taking place before our eyes!