THE arm of a bronze statue, blown off in a German bombing raid on
Glasgow during the Second World War, has been found on the banks of a
river.
It was presumed lost until Yorkhill Hospital worker, Mrs Isobel
Scobie, 54, discovered it lying in silt on the edge of the River Kelvin.
Peace and War, created by Paul Raphael Montford in 1910, was damaged
during an attack on the city on the night of March 13 and 14, 1941.
Searches of the devastated area near the Kelvingrove Museum and Art
Gallery following the raid found no trace of the arm. In 1951, Glasgow
Corporation, who owned the statue, commissioned its repair under the
direction of sculptor Benno Schotz, a member of the Royal Scottish
Academy.
The arm, cast with a broken spear to represent the power of peace over
war, belongs to one of four statues now standing at each corner of the
Kelvin Way Bridge in Kelvingrove Park.
Mr Julian Spalding, Glasgow District Council's director of museums and
art galleries, said yesterday he would be interested to see the arm.
However, he cast doubt on whether the statue would be restored to its
original glory.
He said: ''It is very unlikely that we would replace the repair unless
we found that the old arm is very much better and makes the sculpture
look significantly different.''
Mrs Scobie, who lives opposite the museum and art gallery, told
yesterday how she was walking near the river Kelvin when she saw what
appeared to be a hand clutching a broken spear.
''It was just the knuckles I could see holding the spear,'' she said.
''I managed to get down to the edge of the river but it was too heavy to
pull out.''
Mrs Scobie's nephew, Mr Angus McPhee, 18, dug the arm out of the mud
with a spade.
A Glasgow District Council spokesman described the find as
''remarkable'', adding that the council's legal department would check
to see who was the rightful owner of the arm and what should become of
it.
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