Yesterday we were delighted to welcome the Mayor of Croydon who presided over the official opening ceremony for the magnificent sculpture by Alan Potter which has been installed in Purley. The 12M cast iron structure is a full-size replica of the horse-drawn trains which in the early 1800s ran straight through Rotary Field carrying building materials, corn, coal and many other products all the way up to river docks at Wandsworth. By some accounts it was the world's first public railway (as opposed to railways built within mines for example), and a small section of the orignal track is still in place in the northwest corner of the field. The line of the original track can still be traced for a mile or two in both directions from Purley.
About 70 people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, after which Christchurch Purley, which is just opposite Rotary Field, kindly hosted an excellent reception which was open to all. In the church foyer, there were about 300 miniature models of the sculpture on display; these had been painted by volunteers during community workshops back in the Summer.
