Park's dolphin sculpture restored by art students

A dolphin sculpture at a country park in Dorset that had been looking "very worse for wear" has been restored by two model-making students.

The 30-year-old bottlenose was given to Durlston Country Park by a marine park in the Netherlands.

It had been used to teach visitors about the aquatic mammals but the fibreglass surface had become cracked and damaged over time.

The country park said it was grateful for the Arts University Bournemouth students for volunteering their time and expertise.

Violet Angel, who specialises in architectural model-making, said: "I grew up in Swanage so I remember the dolphin quite fondly as a child.

"When I saw on Facebook they were asking for help repairing it, I felt I had the skills, that I could do something nice for my community.

"It was about three days, all-in-all, but we are used to being perfectionists.

"It was a really fun project and a nice break away from our usual working."

Fellow student Sophia McClarnon said: "We didn't break into him enough to know exactly what's inside but he's covered in some sort of fiberglass mesh and it had torn open over the years.

"Various layers had come apart so we were filling in the bits that had folded open, and meshing the outside back together and painting over it again."

The dolphin was originally given in exchange for some marine artwork produced by an artist in residence at Durlston in 1993.

A country park spokesperson said: "I'm not sure if it has been previously repaired, but certainly over the past few years it had began to look very worse for wear.

"We are so grateful for their help."

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