Celebrity priest praises Lego water chute model

The Reverend Richard Coles, a Church of England priest and broadcaster, has praised a man who built a Lego model of an iconic amusement park ride.

Mr Coles posted on social media: "Bravo to Rob Smith for having made a Lego model of the water chute at Wicksteed Park in Kettering."

He added that the attraction at the Northamptonshire park was "the oldest white-knuckle ride in England".

Mr Smith said: “Whenever I build anything, I like it to have a personal attachment. I love the park and I’m a big fan of 1920s style architecture, so this fits the bill."

He added that he used more than 2,500 plastic bricks to build the model.

Mr Coles, a former member of The Communards, has previously described Wicksteed Park as "the pleasure dome of my childhood, and for tens of thousands of Cytringans [people from Kettering]".

The water chute was designed by Charles Wicksteed, who created Wicksteed Park.

It is Grade II listed and was named the best historic ride in the country in the 2022 Theme Park Awards.

Visitors are seated in a wooden boat which slowly releases and rolls down a track into the lake, creating a large splash.

The ride then uses a rope-pulley mechanism, which is attached to the rear of the boat, to pull itself back to the top, ready for the next group of riders.

Mr Smith, 39, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, has been making models out of Lego for about 20 years.

He said: “I did a version [of the water chute] in 2010 and again in 2015, but they were quite primitive compared to what I can do with it now.

“Some of the pieces I’ve used weren’t available previously as Lego do new bits all the time, which enables you to do things you weren’t able to do before."

The model took about four weeks to make and it is designed so the boat can physically move down the ramp.

Mr Smith said that "a lot of it was done by eye - I’m terrible at maths, I’m terrible at drawing.

"It’s slightly out of scale but in the end that doesn’t really matter.”

He is planning to take the model to Lego shows around the country.

Kelly Richardson, Wicksteed Park's director, said: “Rob’s Lego creations are amazing and we are so thrilled that he has immortalised our wonderful water chute in this way.”

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.