Dreadnowt

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 1 May 2021

This 25ft-high polished steel sculpture of a battleship depicted sinking into a lawn is a familiar sight outside the Collyhurst Road factory of H Marcel Guest paintworks, a mile outside the city centre, having been installed there in 1994. The ship is made of thin mild steel plates. It was originally sculpted by Manchester artist Jonathan Woolfenden. The ship itself represents ‘emergence’ and was given the title “Nothing to Worry About”; it is known locally as the ‘Dreadnowt’, meaning ‘to fear nothing’. Its design is loosely based on the Dreadnought-class battleship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought ) and its name is an outrageous pun on this. Originally presented in 'raw steel' (Image]), protected from corrosion by HMG's high-performance coatings, the sculpture was painted with a giant cross of St George to show support for England in the World Cups of 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20140618082432/http://www.hmgpaint.com/press-releases/manchester-firm-flies-the-flag-on-giant-steel-sculpture , 2010 http://www.hmgpaint.com/press-releases/hmg-paints-fly-the-flag , and 2014 http://www.hmgpaint.com/press-releases/hmg-believe-england-should-'dreadnowt'-at-the-world-cup-in-brazil . In 2012 it carried the Olympic Rings to support the 2012 London Olympics Image The last time I visited, in 2014 (Image]), it was painted with the Royal British Legion’s poppy symbol. Since then, it has been surrounded by a high hedge and a plastic mesh fence which make it less easily visible from Collyhurst Road.

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