The start of this year’s Kelso Civic Week has been marked with the official unveiling of the town’s new £40,000 piece of public artwork.
The 2014 Kelso Laddie Ross Henderson revealed the finished 20-ton artwork, created by sculptor Jake Harvey, as part of a ceremony yesterday (Monday), which also involved the local pipe band, a rendition of the song ‘Kelsae Bonnie Kelsae’ and a speech by Kelso-born writer, Alistair Moffat.
The ‘Kelsae Stane’ was originally installed in Kelso Square back in February and since then Mr Harvey, who lives at Maxton, has engraved local place names onto the stone’s surface.
The stone is conceived like a section of the landscape and made of a similar material to the town’s iconic cobbles, aiming to ‘grow’ out of the existing historic surface.
Charlie Robertson, Chair of the Kelso Stakeholder Group, commented: “I am delighted by the unveiling of the finished Kelsae Stane and to have such a unique, original and timeless representation of the town as an integral part of the fabric of Kelso Square. “This is a great day for Kelso.”