An ice cream shop's popular straw sculpture of Peter Rabbit which was destroyed by fire has been resurrected by volunteers.
The new 40ft sculpture is standing proud on a field near Snugburys Ice Cream in Nantwich once more thanks to dedicated volunteers, engineers and staff.
It was completely destroyed in an arson attack in February.
Cleo Sadler, one of the directors of Snugburys, said: “We were devastated when we saw Peter up in flames in the field, he took over 1000 man hours to build but sadly was seen burnt to the ground in 10 minutes.”
After the fire the metal frame from the original sculpture was salvaged, and with the help of Harbrook Engineering, volunteers from the community and a Snugburys team, Peter Rabbit was restored back to his former glory and put back in the field on Wednesday (June 28), our sister paper the Crewe Chronicle reports.
Cleo’s sister and fellow Snugburys director Kitty Sadler said: “We were overwhelmed by all the support we received from not only the local community but from across the country, we were completely blown away with all the kind words, people volunteering their time and donating to help re-build Peter!”
Since the incident the Sadler sisters said that they have invested in higher security, with CCTV and alarms now in place to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.
To celebrate the rebuild, and as a thank you to the volunteers who helped restore the sculpture, Snugburys are inviting the community to celebrate with them at a Peter Rabbit party on Saturday, July 8 from 11am to 5pm.
There will be live music, games and plenty of ice cream surrounding the Peter Rabbit sculpture at the event, and all money raised on the day will be going to The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, a local Cheshire charity providing support for ill and disabled children.
