But after that, it was much more graceful and peaceful as the strange vessel was pushed downstream, and the vessel and the carving, the Virgin of the Waters and the Wye, began to meander downstream. The idea behind the project, conceived by artist Philip Chatfield and Father Richard Williams, the parish priest of St Mary’s Church in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, is to raise awareness of the plight of the Wye, one of the most beautiful rivers in the west of Britain, but suffering from “heartbreaking” amounts of pollution from industrial chicken factories along their banks. “The river is horribly polluted,” Williams said. “It’s heartbreaking to see the state it’s in and the way fish and other wildlife are being affected. Philip is a friend and we were talking about it, trying to find a way to get attention. We came up with the idea of a sculpture of Mary, who is a symbol of purity, cleanliness and fruitfulness, floating on the river.” The Wye passes through the so-called chicken capital of the UK, where an estimated 20 million birds are reared in the river’s catchment. Bird droppings are rich in phosphates and are spread on the land as fertilizer to encourage crop growth, but the land can no longer absorb the amount of manure spread along the Wye and the runoff plagues the river with what they call the fighters The “pea soup” blooms algae. River plants suffocate, oxygen is taken from the water, and fish such as brown trout suffer, as do kingfishers and other bird species. The boat with the Brewardine Bridge in the background. Photo: Dimitris Legakis/The Guardian The journey started in Hay bright and early on Monday when residents carried the sculpture down to the river and scattered rose petals over it from the bridge. Chatfield and keen local canoeist Callum Ballmer rowed the boat – and pushed it into the shallows. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A trumpeter and saxophonist played Bridge Over Troubled Water from a bridge as the catamaran passed and monks from Belmont Abbey performed Gregorian chants in his honor on Monday night. During its weekly trip to Monmouth via Hereford and Ross-on-Wewe, the statue will be accompanied by riverside church bells, canoes and wild swimmers. “It’s a very British kind of adventure,” Chatfield said. On Tuesday morning, he packed smoked salmon and beef sandwiches, a brolly and the life jacket he wore when he was a crew member of the Maria Asumpta, the sailboat that sank off the coast of Cornwall in 1995. “But the message is important . It will appeal to people in different ways. Some may see something religious in it, others will focus on the environmental aspect. It was hand carved from Scandinavian redwood and we row by hand. I think there’s a lot of humanity in that. It can be many things to many people. If nothing else, it’s a nice statue floating on the river.” He then walked off a pebbly beach in the Herefordshire village of Brentwardin in front of a curious crowd, including Angela Vevers, a retired teacher. “It makes me feel emotional watching,” he said. It is very important to draw attention to what is happening in this river. We must take action whenever we can, not be afraid to speak up even if by speaking you offend some people.” A detail from the wood carving. Photo: Dimitris Legakis/The Guardian Lyndon Eatough-Smith, the trumpeter, said he was moved by the sight of the statue passing under the arches of the bridge at Bredwardine. “It seemed to glow.” Lives near Wye. “You notice when it’s in flood how dark and muddy it is.” Naiya Goodwin, 13, added: “The river needs to be preserved. Future generations should be able to come here and swim like we did this summer.” Rachel Jenkins, a psychiatrist who organized the route for the expedition, grew up on the Wye and was horrified when she returned after some time to see how polluted it had become. “I was shocked by the collapse of fish stocks and insect life,” he said. “Governments and agencies can’t seem to get their act together and hold farmers who dump things in the river to account. This can be a scary event, but it brings people together. And it makes people smile.”
