£6k move for the 'ball-in-the-wall'

The controversial sculpture, locally known as the 'ball-in-the-wall', will be moved from Catherine Street to Limavady Borough Council's depot in the coming days to have surface realignment work plus repairs after severe weather conditions caused damage to the stone.

The Danny Boy monument is also to be cleaned, altogether amounting to a stonemason and sculptor bill of 4,000. The cost of moving the water feature from Catherine Street to the town square has also been quoted at 1900. In a Technical Services report the council say the repair work may be recoverable through insurance, although this is still uncertain. Limavady UUP Councillor Edwin Stevenson called the cost "exorbitant."

Councillor Stevenson said: "This is not a piece of art work that I can say I have overly admired. I hope that at it's new home it will have a bigger impact and grab on people than it did where it was situated before."

"I appreciate public art but I believe that should be something that grabs the public's attention and make people think. As yet I can't say I feel the sculpture does that."

"It's an exorbitant amount of money to be spending and I would have thought things like cleaning could have been easily carried out by our council staff instead."

UUC Councillor Leslie Cubitt called the sculpture which was commissioned by Limavady Borough Council and the Arts Council Lottery in 2002, a "monstrosity".

"It is a total waste of money. I have said it before and I will say it again, it would be better used to fill potholes in the town rather than placed outside our new Civic Centre. It's a monstrosity."

Councillor Cubitt continued: "I still believe that the architects and contractors of the new town hall should have donated two bronze statues of Jane Ross and the blind fiddler to be put on show outside the new building. It would have been a very nice gesture."

SDLP Councillor Michael Coyle said he believed the cost was justifiable.

"When you break it all down you are getting value for money," said the SDLP Councillor, "I'm assuming the cost would include the disconnection of the water, the disconnection of the electricity plus the physical work involved in moving the sculpture, cleaning it and repairing it. If it's broken down it does make sense."

Councillor Coyle added: "I believe in public art and do believe the borough hasn't enough. The 'ball-in-the-wall' is an example of modern day art which involves a lot of interpretation and i don't have a problem with that at all. What sells an area is it's beauty, culture and heritage and public art, including this sculpture, is part of that."

The stone water feature, created by Belfast born artist Philip Flanagan reflects the famous legend of how Jane Ross on hearing a blind fiddler outside her window in Main Street recorded the melody known around the world as 'The Londonderry Air'. The series of lines within the stone refer to the town's coat of arms, the lines of the musical stave and the River Roe.