Oxford's Wicker Man project rises for local Maggie's Centre

The community project builds a huge sculpture constructed of wicker and wood, designed by local children, to raise funds for, and awareness of Maggie's Oxford.

Every year thousands of Oxfordshire school children are invited to enter a competition to design the Wicker Man Oxford. This year's winning design, Medusa, contributed by Thomas Lydford-Brace, aged 8 years old, has been brought to life by the project leader Dan Barton and a team of dedicated volunteers. Components for the sculpture are also made by hundreds of members of the community such as schools, RAF cadets, cubs, guides and The Woodcraft Folk.

The main construction of the 42.5 foot Wicker Man was completed in May 2011 but the sculpture is still evolving and the plan is to increase its height to over 50 feet by November 2011 in an attempt to enter it into the Guinness Book of Records.

Spontaneous visits to Oxfordshire towns will continue throughout the summer. The sculpture has been built so that it can travel around Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties in order to raising awareness of Maggie’s by maximising public viewing and making it accessible to the wider community. Between Sunday 21 and Saturday 27 August you'll be able to see this year's model will be standing alongside the M40 at Aston Rowant Nature Reserve. In September between Friday 9 and Monday 12 September it will be at ‘Alex James presents Harvest' in Kingham, before moving to The Royal Berkshire Show in Newbury on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18.

Ultimately, the colossal sculpture will be burnt at the Oxford Round Table Charity Bonfire Display, South Parks on Saturday 5 November 2011. As it burns the Wicker Man will physically change shape into a totally different giant sculpture designed by another child, which, being made of metal, continues to stand in the flames in front of a huge crowd. Last year 22,000 witnessed this amazing sight.

To date this year, 900 people have helped and an estimated 2,500 will be involved before the burning at Oxford's fireworks at South Parks.

All donations, funds from the sale of raffle tickets and from the Wicker Man Oxford design competition go to Maggie’s.

Find out more on the Wicker Man Oxford website, or watch Wildwater TV's documentaries about Wicker Man on YouTube.

Find out more about Maggie's Oxford or contact Sandy Briscoe.