Everyone has heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears — and now it is coming to a bus shelter near you!
Artist Paul Wilmott’s unique interpretation of the famous fairy tale, written by Lakeland poet Robert Southey while living in Keswick, has won him a public mural competition with a £2,000 first prize.
Keswick Reminder readers voted overwhelmingly for Paul’s entry ahead of four others in an art contest we ran with Keswick Town Council over the last fortnight to see whose piece of work should be installed on a giant 8×4 metre board in the newly-built slate bus shelter in Penrith Road, at Wivell Park.
His striking image of Goldilocks with the three bears — one reading the Keswick Reminder with a headline Town has no porridge or honey left — attracted 103 votes by email.
That was well clear of second placed Claire Grant and Philip Wake, of Active Art, with 55.
The other three artists were Jonathan Hunter, with their Yan Tan design; Sophie Hayes with Wizard of Oz design; and Tim Fisher and Venus Griffiths, with their Lakeland poets-inspired work.
Paul, aged 61, from Keswick, said: “I found all the entries quite captivating. The competition created a lot of excitement and I feel quite proud to take on the task. I have lived here 30 years and I do feel I am a local now.”
Referring to his winning entry, the mural artist and decorator added: “I quite like the whole three bears thing. Most of our fairy tales come from Grimms or Hans Christian Andersen in Europe, yet we have such a special one that comes from Keswick, but it has been completely overlooked.
“It is pretty amazing. If Keswick was in America, everyone here would be selling Three Bears souvenirs and special packs of Goldilocks porridge and honey.
“Instead, we are spoon-fed golden daffodils and I feel a bit sorry for Southey. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a really good piece of work.
“All fairy tales have intuitive meanings and affect us all. To think this one originated in Keswick is remarkable and very special. It is not widely known even in our own town.”
Along with his artwork, Paul’s entry included details of how Southey wrote the story of the three bears after his uncle told him a tale about a vixen intruding into their home.
Southey published the fairy tale in 1834 in his compendium of stories called The Doctor but changed the vixen to a grumpy old woman.
Twelve years later, with Southey’s permission, Joseph Cundall changed the intruder into a young girl with silver hair. It was in John Hassall’s Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes in 1904 that the girl intruder was named Goldilocks for the first time.
Voting in the competition closed on Wednesday and the result was announced at Thursday’s meeting of Keswick Town Council.
The prize money and funds to pay for the mural are being provided by Cumbria County Council, whose control unit for the new flood pump installed beneath Penrith Road is in the new bus shelter.
Southey was a poet laureate and was friends with fellow Lakeland poets Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
He lived at Greta Hall, Keswick, for nearly 50 years and was considered one of the most learned men of his generation, producing numerous works of fiction, poetry, a biography of Nelson and a history of Brazil.
