Our statues stand proud

FURTHER to the subject of public statues (Athena, August 9 and Letters, August 23 and September 6), they can enhance the standing of a town. In Northampton, lifesized statues of persons with a connection to the county, including Malcolm Arnold, John Clare and Francis Crick (right), have been made in cold-cast bronze by Richard Austin. They are arranged in a courtyard next to the Victorian Guildhall, with explanation plaques, so forming a sort of pantheon. Their discovery by visitors would, I am sure, be educative. Nevertheless, as Michael Pinder suggests, the tenure of each one should perhaps be reconsidered every few years. David Edgar, Cambridgeshire