Minehead is paying its own tribute to NHS and front line workers – thanks to litter campaigner turned welder Steven Heard, who has made more than 60 jaunty scrap metal sculptures which can now be seen all over town and include nurses, a paramedic, a firefighter, a lifeboat man and policeman.

He has also made an impressive metal sculpture of the late 100-year-old Captain Tom Moore, who received a knighthood after raising almost £40 million for the NHS by walking around his garden.

After teaching himself to weld when his litter campaign was suspended by the first lockdown, Steven plans to make at least 100 of what he calls his ‘metal heads’ to ‘brighten up the town and bring a smile during these difficult times’.

“We owe so much to everyone in the front line and I wanted to make sculptures which show our appreciation of what they are doing for the community,” said Steven, 53, a former town councillor.

“People seem to like my efforts and most of the shops and businesses in the town now have sculptures which symbolise what they do. But most of my recent figures have been of the front line heroes who are in the forefront of this dreadful pandemic.”

For the full story see this week’s West Somerset Free Press.