Tributes pour in after death of Waresley sculptor Laurence Broderick

Laurence Broderick worked from his Waresley studio for more than 60 years and his creation, modelled on a Hereford bull, made it into the world’s Top Ten pieces of public sculpture, alongside such iconic works as Michelangelo’s David, the Statue of Liberty and the lions in Trafalgar Square.

He won a competition to create the six-tonne bronze statue, beloved by Brummies and visitors to the city, which was unveiled when the shopping centre opened in 2003.

The national media have all carried glowing obituaries about the Bristol-born man who studied painting, illustration and sculpture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London, before continuing his studies at the Hammersmith School of Art from 1964 to 1965.

He taught art the Haberdashers' Aske's School in Cricklewood and became its art director when the school moved to Elstree in1961. According to his son Graeham, Laurence became a teacher because it meant he could spend the holidays creating his own work.

But it was on a family holiday to the Isle of Skye in 1978 that Laurence’s future changed course forever. He was so entranced by a wild otter he saw swimming that he carved it in local stone, which led to a sell-out one-man show three years later.

It enabled him to give up teaching and concentrate on his creative skills.

Graeham says some of his happiest family memories are of his father taking him and his two brothers fishing in Scotland.

He also remembers making incognito visits to Birmingham and standing in front of the iconic bull: “We used to hang out and listen to people talking about it.

"My Dad loved it. I think he regarded hearing their comments as his greatest compliment.”

He credits his father with being “full of energy, always busy, strong-willed, ambitious, hard working and friendly to everyone he met. He enjoyed life in Waresley and being part of a small, close-knit community where people cared about each other and the village.”

Laurence’s studio was five minutes’ walk from the family home.

Graeham says his father often told him art was all he wanted to do – he had little interest in other subjects. His initial attraction to sketching buildings (because of his fascination with perspective) was superseded by wildlife –particularly otters – on that first family holiday to Scotland.

He believes his father’s special skill was giving animal sculptures movement.

Laurence’s love of otters led to him becoming joint president of the International Otter Survival Fund.

He married a German girl, Ingrid Bohne, in 1963. She had been working as an au pair in London. The couple had three sons.

Graeham says: “My mother became ill with Alzheimers in 2016 and my brother Oliver died in 2019, aged only 46.

"It had a profound and devastating affect on my father’s mental health. But he had a wonderful live-in carer called Aubrey who took great care of him over the last few months."

Laurence is survived by Ingrid, their sons Graeham and Roger, and four grandchildren.