Lovell Stone Group Directors Simon and James Hart visited City of Bath College in May to present the prize for the best carving according to the vote by visitors to the Natural Stone Show in London at the end of April.
Lovell extracts various stones, including Hartham Park Bath stone, blocks of which it gave to Bath College so full-time and Love2Learn evening class students could carve something representing the city of Bath.
Lovell’s Directors then tried to choose three of them to display on the company’s stand at the London stone exhibition for visitors to vote on and choose a winner. In fact, the standard was so high they could not whittle it down to three and took four to the Stone Show.
James Hart told NSS: "It was a really good draw to the stand to have that element of voting. They were all good works and at the end of the day there was hardly anything between them."
There were 12 works finished by students at Bath for the Lovell Stone Group Directors to choose from for those they wanted to put on their stand at the Natural Stone Show. Simon: "They were all so good. It was difficult to choose. We had said we would choose three but we couldn't decide so we took four. There were hundreds of people voted at the Stone Show and there was hardly anything between them."
Masonry tutor Paul Maggs agreed. "It was a high standard," he told NSS. He was pleased that three of the four finalists, including the winner, were Love2Learn evening class students taught by Sam Flintham, who is a stone carver with a workshop in Malmesbury, near Bath.
And the winner of the cash prize was… David Lambard with his depiction of Pultney Bridge, a Bath landmark.
The other finalists were: Sam Bradley, Jeni Wood and Josie Baher. Sam Bradley carved a depiction of the Royal Crescent; Jeni Wood two halves of a Bath stone quarryman's head, one ancient, one modern; and Josie Baher carved a stone replica of the famous head of Minerva found in the Roman Baths of Bath.
Lovell MD Simon Hart thanked all the students who took part and everyone who voted. “It was a fantastic project to be involved in,” he said when he presented the prize at Bath College.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking transporting them after the hard work students had put in. We wrapped them up extra carefully, so I’m really pleased they’ve made it back to Bath College safe and sound.
“Three hundred people voted at the show, we had a really good response and a really close result. If it had been a general election, it would have been a hung parliament!
“We’d like to thank all of the students for taking part. The Natural Stone Show takes place every two years, so we’d like to make this a biennial event with the college.”
Paul Maggs said the competition had given the students an opportunity to carve in their spare time, which would not normally be part of the course. He praised them for putting “their hearts and souls into it”.
Winner David Lambard, whose day job is a structural engineer, said he had gone back to the original drawings for Pultney Bridge for his carving, which consequently looks like the bridge should have been rather than how it is because the builders made some alterations of their own in the construction of it.
He said he had taken the carving course at Bath College because he was looking for something different to do in the evenings. "I didn't feel particularly creative but decided to come along and give it a go. I found I was quite good at it – and I love it."