Len Gibson statue under construction by Ray Lonsdale

Renowned local sculptor Ray Lonsdale is creating a statue of Sunderland war veteran Len Gibson.

Gibson, who died at the age of 101, was a legendary Sunderland figure who was imprisoned on the notorious death railway by the Japanese in Burma during World War II.

Len went on to become a schoolteacher and became a revered local figure who was known for his love and support for others, as well as his community work.

Starting earlier this year, a successful fundraiser was held for Ray Lonsdale to build a statue. Lonsdale, who is known for some of the region’s most iconic works, including Seaham’s Tommy, the Vaux delivery wagons and recently, the grieving mother of a soldier at Murton, has seen it as his honour to create it.

The statue will depict him as a prisoner of a war, and is being shaped accordingly to show him in a starved state in order to reflect on the horrific legacy of the death railway, where many prisoners of war died in the jungle conditions from disease in pursuing forced labour.