New statue celebrates Newquay's surfing heritage

Newquay's identity as a world class surfing destination has been celebrated by the arrival of a bronze statue of a surfer riding a wave.

The statue overlooking Towan Beach has been gifted to the town by Stuart and Cherrylin Keogh who started a business selling surf gear in the 1970s.

In the 1980s the couple saw surf statues in Australia and California and wanted a similar landmark in the centre of Newquay that would honour the town's surfing heritage.

Jonathan Start, a trustee of the Stuart and Cherrylin Keogh Foundation said: "It's going to be a place that people are going to want to take their photo and it's just another reason that people are going to want to come to Newquay."

The process started more than six years ago and the statue was created at the Morris Singer Foundry in Hampshire.

Start said: "They've done a fantastic job in creating this statue and when you look at it in a certain angle he looks like he's on the actual sea.

"We've already had such a fantastic response with photographs, Instagram and social media behind it."

The foundation worked with Newquay Town Council to make its dream of a surf stature become a reality.

"Everyone said it should be on Fistral (beach), the reality is there is no Newquay Town Council owned land anywhere near Fistral that we could put this statue on," Start said.

Surfer Jody Wood from Exeter took his children to Newquay to see the statue.

"There's always going to be people talking about it and there's going to be people who aren't going to like it but I think it's really cool.

"People are going to come from all over and take selfies and photos and obviously with the beach in the background," he said.

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