MARK-IT: Bakers Statue
In 2019, the Addo Food Group donated “The Bakers” statue that used to stand in front of the Spalding Bakery factory to the Society after the decision to close the site.
The Sculpture was originally called “Baker & his Assistant”. It was commissioned and installed in 2011 for the Porkfoods bakery in Fulney Lane and stood on a grassy mound that could be seen from the Springfields roundabout.
The two aluminium resin figures are a little over life-size. The sculptor made dozens of sketches on the factory shop-floor and then a dozen or so maquettes, from which two were finally chosen “to represent the men and women workers of the bakery, and to show their energy and pride in their work”. This can be most readily seen in the man, with his squared shoulders and head thrown back and the tray of products tilted towards you, as if to say: “There, all perfectly in line, and perfectly baked.”
The sculptor was Neal French, who is based in Dereham in Norfolk. He told us in 2025 “It was always one of my favourite commissions. Kerry Foods, in the persons of two very efficient young women, were a joy to deal with, the modelling and casting went smoothly and if drilling through reinforced concrete was not ideal, so did the installation.“
The delightful family group in Saracen’s Head is also his work. Elected Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and Member of the Society of Portrait Sculptors in 2002, he works in ceramics and bronze as well as resin. “My work is figurative …[but] is seldom literal. It usually derives from an image of a figure that seems entirely characteristic of that person, but which at the same time carries abstract sculptural qualities and possibilities.[My work’s all] about balancing the two elements.”
So how does The Bakers fit into the Market Art Project, designed as it is to celebrate Spalding’s historic market in its live-stock heyday? Quite well, really. Although not originally intended that way, Joseph Hillier’s fourteen small bronzes form a link between our market heritage and the area’s present-day importance in the country’s food production and processing, as nearly every figure is of someone involved in it in some way, from drainage engineer to farmers, and auction clerk to vegetable packagers, market traders and shopkeepers. The bakery sculpture will therefore complete the sequence as an emblem of the final processing of the food into pies and sausage rolls, frozen dishes and ready-meals, the last stage of the journey from soil to supermarket shelves.
Discussions then began with the Council as to where it could go. Ultimately, thanks to a proposal by Ian Marshman, then Historic Environment Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, Swan Walk was chosen. The square is owned by the District Council and currently is an empty space, but the key northern gateway to the town. We felt so much more could be made of the space as did the original architect when he draw up the plans for the units now occupied by Woodgreen & Spalding Mobility.
He envisaged trees and outside dining – he envisaged a design that would have given the area a sense of place. The original planning application included a note that the landscaping was not included in the proposal which is why it did not materialise.
Whilst we could simply erect the statue in the square, it would not say that the space is something to be proud of. We therefore feel that the opportunity should be taken to give the space the sense of place that the architect envisaged. We envisage trees, seating and outside dining. We feel that it could be a new home for the flower seller currently standing outside the empty Argos unit as well as a casual trader such as the strawberry seller seen in recent years.
We feel that our proposal would be the most significant and striking improvement to the public realm that is currently on the table and would give a highly visible sense to Spaldonians, that at last something is happening in the town. Furthermore, as the internal combustion engine is replaced by the electric and hydrogen cars of the future, we believe that the square has the potential to be a meeting place for people who have just got off the bus and could also be somewhere that people would be happy to sit and watch the World go by on a summers day.
