Supported by Penguin Books and The Roald Dahl Literary Estate, Sandworld’s festival of sand unveiled 16 life-size sand sculptures at the launch of ‘Literally Sand’.
This year’s theme features characters and scenes from famous books and authors. Joey, the War Horse appears proudly in a stand-alone enclosure, followed closely by the Hungry Caterpillar. The sandy footpath through the festival site then leads you to Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, a monstrous Frankenstein, leading on to Alice in Wonderland, Chitty, Jungle Book and Lord of the Rings.
Weymouth’s Councillor for Tourism & Culture, Ian Bruce says “I am tremendously excited about this year’s theme as it will clearly appeal to both young and old alike. The sand in Weymouth is famous around the world and we are very lucky to have Sandworld to turn it into something literally stupendous.”
Sandworld’s co-founder Mark Anderson has completed the ultimate literary build of The Last Supper on Weymouth beachfront. The custom of sand sculpting on the beach began with Mark’s Grandfather in the early 1920s and now forms part of Weymouth’s traditional values, along with the donkeys and candy floss.
Sandworld have enjoyed commissions and created sculptures for Monopoly, Lynx, London Olympics and even the Queen. Later this year they will be holding special events to mark the milestone anniversaries of WWI and II, plus themed author days incorporating the works of Michael Morpurgo and Roald Dahl.
As sighs of ‘wow’ and ‘awesome’ could be heard by attending school children who were the first to witness this year’s theme, Sandworld’s co-founder David Hicks proudly remarked “I believe these sculptures are the best we have ever done. I have to pay tribute to the 12 master craftsmen who travelled from across the world to build them, as they have truly captured the magic of books, artistically crafted in sand.”
