Sunshine Weekly and the Pilgrim’s Pocket (Southwark, 1991)

Created by Rotherhithe local Peter McClean, and commissioned by the London Docklands Development Corporation, this artwork stands in a regenerated Thameside area of Southwark. The bronze statue shows the ghost of William Bradford (and his dog) shocked by a boy from the early 20^th century. Peering over the boys shoulder, Bradford sees him reading Uncle Pete and Kevs Sunbeam Weakly ­– which includes a comic strip of the story of the Mayflower, alongside images of modern America (such as cowboys, the Statue of Liberty, cars and soldiers). In the Pilgrim’s pocket are a variety of items loosely connected to New England – a lobster claw, an ‘A-Z’ street guide of London from 1620, and a crucifix. A nearby panel confidently tells the reader that ‘Cumberland Wharf is the approximate site from which the Mayflower set sail for America’ though does acknowledge that they also dropped in on Southampton and Plymouth! The artist’s aim, according to the panel, was to create a ‘light-hearted’ work – in which he succeeded, judging by the passing tourists who still pose for pictures with the Pilgrim.