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Locals to Reading may have seen the recent news that the cartwheeling boys sculpture has been placed in its new home on the side of the Bridge Street Civic Offices. The sculpture used to be outside the old Civic Offices, on San Francisco Libre Walk near the Hexagon. This month’s highlight focuses on a video showing the creation of these sculptures (D/EX653/4/3/1/7/1).
Courtesy of Reading Borough Council
The film itself arrived at the Royal Berkshire Archive as a cine film as part of the Reading Düsseldorf Association collection (D/EX653). It was filmed by Chris Allies, son of Martyn Allies, a chairman of the Reading Düsseldorf Association (RDA). There were originally two films, one with the audio and another with the video. Unfortunately, the audio reel was too damaged to be saved but the Wessex Film and Sound Archive in Hampshire were able to digitise the video which has been catalogued as part of our digital archive. A colour corrected version has also been catalogued, with work completed by Matt Hulse.
There have been links between Reading and Düsseldorf since the end of the Second World War with the RDA being founded in 1947 by the Mayor, Phoebe Cusden. In 1977 the Association celebrated their 30th anniversary and the cartwheeling boys statue was commissioned as part of the celebrations (cartwheelers are a tradition and symbol of Düsseldorf). The process took longer than anticipated so the sculpture was not completed until 1981.
The sculpture was created by Brian Slack who used a unique technique, similar to the ancient lost wax method. In the lost wax method, the whole sculpture, or parts of it, are shaped in wax, forming the basis of a mould. Molten metal is then poured into the mould allowing the wax to melt away leaving behind the metal sculpture. This is the process Slack used, however rather than using wax, he sculpted his pieces in polystyrene.
The metal work was then completed by the Brunel University Metallurgy Department. One of the members of the RDA, J.F.R. Ibbeston, was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Production Technology at the same university. He was interested in foundry work and met Slack when the metallurgy department assisted him with another sculpture, ‘St Andrew and the Boy’. It was seeing this process first hand which prompted Ibbeston to suggest the technique at an RDA Committee meeting, and to suggest Slack as the artist. From this, the idea of the cartwheeling boys sculpture was born.
The sculpture was casted in 15 different pieces. It was a delicate process as once the metal was poured, the mould would be destroyed, so any mistakes would mean having to sculpt a whole new mould. Fortunately, the casting process was generally successful, with only one slight issue with the tips of one of the sets of fingers. The pieces were then welded together.
The sculpture was originally displayed on a brick wall. Slack convinced the bricklayers to add a slight curve to the wall to add to the sense of movement.
The completed sculpture was finally unveiled in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Reading and the Bürgermeister of Düsseldorf in April 1981. The event was well attended and even had a display of cartwheeling!
The sculpture remained on this site until 2022 when it was damaged in Storm Eunice. Following work by The Affable Design Company and AB Fine Art Foundry, it has now been repaired and reinforced. It was installed in its new home on 25 February 2026.