VIDEO: Sculptor visits police to meet four-legged inspiration

A talented sculptor visited police in Wakefield to meet her muses for her latest project. 
Branwyn Owens visited the mounted section of the force.Branwyn Owens visited the mounted section of the force.
Branwyn Owens visited the mounted section of the force.

Branwyn Owens, 42, visited the city yesterday to see the mounted and dog section for the force.

Her latest artwork will be based upon the sculptures of police dogs and horses will be sold for £100 each, to raise money for the K9 Memorial Fund. 100 per cent of all the profits will go straight to the charity. 

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The sculptures of the working animals will be available to anyone to buy and each one will be made to order with the officer’s name and animal’s name engraved into the clay, to personalise them and to honour their services to the force. 

Branwyn lost her sight in 2005 and only started sculpting just two years ago and works entirely using her sense of touch. 

When she visited West Yorkshire Police, she met police horse Marley and PD Kes, a German Shepherd and PD Fern, a Springer Spaniel.  

When Branwyn met the animals, she was able to touch and interact with them to get an idea of their shape, size and their personality so she will be able to visualise them and recreate them in sculpture form. 

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The sculptures will be moulded with clay and then will have a bronze cast applied over the clay. 

The K9 Memorial Fund was started by police officer Paul Nicholls, with the aim to build a memorial to honour police dogs at the National Memorial Arboretum. 

Chief Inspector Chris Bowen, of Protective Services Operations, said: “We were thrilled to have Branwyn come and visit us at West Yorkshire Police and meet our horses and dog for her project. 

“Police Dogs are vital within public order policing operations and can act as a fantastic deterrent to a suspect. They can enable officers to make an arrest safely and also have incredible sense of smell to find illegal substances and even money. 

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“Likewise, Police Horses play an important role in West Yorkshire policing; this can be anything from helping control and keep people safe at a large scale public event or football match, help officers search for missing people and also provide a formidable presence and feeling of safety when patrolling around our local neighbourhoods. 

“We’re looking forward to seeing her creations once they are finished and see the dogs and horses immortalised to honour their service to the Force.” 

For more information about the K9 Memorial Fund, please visit http://www.k9memorial.org.uk and follow Branwyn’s progress on Twitter @Clay_of_Cymru