Final push to raise funds for the revival of Ilkley Fountain

Following the successful completion of the surveys, permissions and preparatory work at the site at the top of Brook Street, a scale model of the fountain begins a tour around the community in April.

A public fundraising campaign has been launched via online site JustGiving, with the aim of raising £50,000 for the project by the end of May.

Detail on the scale model of the Ilkley Fountain (Image: photosbydavid.co.uk)

Artist Juliet Gutch, who has designed the new fountain, said: "The aim is to revive and restore this important landmark of our Yorkshire spa town and to install a contemporary, locally designed fountain at this central location where a Victorian fountain once stood.

"Like the original Victorian water feature, the new proposed fountain is conceived, created, and funded by local people and local organisations."

The project includes the restoration of the dilapidated gravity-fed fountain mechanism from 1865 so, like the original, the new design will run with fresh moorland water.

Improving Ilkley, which ran the original competition to design a new fountain, is inviting local residents and other interested parties to pledge their support and to donate to help turn this vision into reality.

The scale model of the Ilkley Fountain (Image: photosbydavid.co.uk)

Juliet said the new design celebrates "moorland water and Sphagnum Moss, a keystone species vital to the past, present and future of our unique local ecosystem".

Donors of any amount, large or small, will be included on a public list which will form an historic record of the project. ‘Keystone donors’ of £250 and above will be invited to have their names displayed permanently at the fountain site.

Improving Ilkley says: “This is our moment to show unity and purpose by delivering a fountain symbolising how a community can come together to preserve, for future generations, those things which we all know to be precious, from clean water in the river, to moorland habitats and treasured local institutions."

The recently completed scale model will begin its journey round the community at the Tinker Gallery from April 4 with an exhibition and auction of 27 donated works from local artists.

It will then visit the Clarke Foley Community Centre, the Saturday Market on The Grove, the Earth Day Festival at St. John’s Church Ben Rhydding, the Ilkley Library and Moss and Moor Ilkley.

All details of dates are on the JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/improvingilkleyfountain.

The JustGiving page also provides links to specifications and further images of the model, as well as the answers to a number of FAQs.

Juliet added: “It is wonderful to finally arrive at the point of being able to share the scale model with the community. If we could make it at full scale for its position at the top of Brook Street, the sculpture would become a backdrop for the pure moorland water which would take centre-stage in the fountain before running into the River Wharfe.

"We really hope that enough funds will be raised to enable the town to realise this project as a celebration of the wonder of natural balance in our local ecosystem. It has been quite a journey, but we have never lost faith in the original concept behind the design which is what inspired us in the first place.”