Concerns after art trail sculptures fail to appear

Businesses that spent up to £2,000 each to sponsor a sculpture trail have raised concerns about the project after the artworks failed to materialise.

The Duck About Town trail was originally due to launch in Stoke-on-Trent last year, celebrating local artists and heritage with 20 duck sculptures.

However businesses said the artworks had still not been delivered and they had lost contact with the organiser Megan Poxon.

The BBC has approached Ms Poxon for comment, but has not yet had a response.

The trail was first announced in 2021, with businesses invited to sponsor one of the 20 sculptures for up to £2,000.

In return, they would receive a batch of smaller rubber and ceramic ducks to sell on themselves.

Themes included famous faces from Stoke-on-Trent, including Robbie Williams, Sir Stanley Matthews and Josiah Wedgwood, as well as celebrating the city's heritage for ceramics.

Dr Alasdair Brooks, the chief executive of Re-Form Heritage, said his organisation had teamed up with Burleigh Pottery to fund two of the ducks.

"It seemed like a really promising project," he said.

"We were supposed to initially get the large sculptures in February or March of last year," he said, but were told there had been delays in manufacture and delivery.

Over the summer he heard from other businesses who were also having problems with their ducks.

"I started to raise an eyebrow and thought this perhaps isn't going quite the way we would have expected," he said.

The Duck About Town website no longer works and on Instagram, the profile says the project is launching this month.

"We have, to the best of my knowledge, all lost contact with Megan," Dr Brooks said.

"Her social media and email are all no longer functioning and so none of us have any means of getting in touch with her."

He said the businesses involved planned to meet to discuss how to proceed.