POOR DOBBY DISAPPARATES
Welsh Harry Potter beach tribute removed
ASCULPTURE of Dobby the house elf placed near the beloved Harry Potter character’s “grave” disappeared from a car park at a Welsh beach within 48 hours of being placed there.
The house elf, a favourite with fans of the wizarding world, created by author JK Rowling, could “disapparate” (disappear) with a click of his fingers in the films. For a while, it appeared he may have done so in real life.
On December 5, a steel sculpture of the famous free elf was placed at the entrance to a National Trust car park close to where Dobby’s final scene was filmed in the dunes at Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire.
In the film, Dobby became a ‘free elf ’ when he was accidentally presented with clothes (a sock) by his owner, Lucius Malfoy, and was later killed by Bellatrix Lestrange while rescuing Harry and his friends from Malfoy Manor in the Deathly Hallows film.
The addition of Dobby to the car park was soon picked up and spread through social media, with people heading to Freshwater West to take selfies with the sculpture, only to find it had gone by the early hours of Saturday, December 8.
Creator of the sculpture, John Goble, owner of Dragon Signs Ltd in Narberth, said: “Last Thursday Dobby was carefully positioned on the edge of one of the more discreet car parks in Freshwater West, about 300 metres behind the sand dunes where the “grave” of Dobby was. We took some photos with him then left and presumed that Dobby spent the night there unnoticed.
“On Friday, somebody posted a photograph of Dobby on the Pembrokeshire
Coastal Path Facebook page. I was in the pub on Friday evening and somebody pointed out the post and I could see that the Dobby sign already had 200 comments. I have to say I was shocked, I didn’t expect it to get quite as much attention as it did.
“We went down to check if Dobby was ok at about 8am on Saturday and there were a couple of families walking around the car park looking for him, but no Dobby.”
Mr Goble owns a business that makes steel signs in Narbeth and was planning to use the sculpture to promote his fledgling company. He hoped to run a competition to win the sculpture, with the person who took the best photograph with Dobby by December 31 able to take the artwork home.
On Friday night, people reported seeing “two men and a woman putting Dobby into the back of a van”.
It turns out, the people they saw were
National Trust employees.
Mr Goble later discovered that Dobby had been removed by the National Trust and met with them to discuss the matter before Dobby was returned undamaged.
The National Trust was concerned that a large number of people coming to the area to see the sculpture could damage the delicate ecosystem of the dunes at Freshwater West and explained their concerns clearly to Mr Goble.
“I was looking to bring people to the area, unfortunately, I just didn’t realise the damage that could be caused by people walking around in this beautiful, but sensitive, part of the world.”
Mr Goble has now moved the Dobby sculpture to outside a plastic-free shop, Happy Planet Green Store, in Narberth town centre.
“We’re still planning on running the competition to give him away and we’re looking for people to take fun photos with him at his new home,” he said.