Bear Drinking Fountain Hyde Park

myminifactory

A drinking fountain at the north end of the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London. The hugging bears' sculpture was presented in 1939 but then stolen in 1967, finally it was replaced with a new version in 1970.  In 2003 Carillion Services improved the water drains as the surrounding area was often covered with a large puddle. They dismantled and rebuilt the drinking fountain replacing the internal lead pipes with new plastic water pipes. The statue work was repositioned away from the tree canopy to help prevent the statue from being covered by leaves and bird droppings. The statue was moved 7.5 metres north-east, together with the realignment of the footpaths which reduces the large expanse of tarmac, this area was replaced with grass. The two lines of granite sets, and a new tarmac surface was laid and graded to ensure that the surrounds drain into new gullies. The final hard surface was completed using tar spray and chip to match the existing tarmac footpaths in Kensington Gardens. The overall, aim of the restoration was to create a better setting in the landscape. 131 photos taken in October 2019 with a Sony a6000 and processed in Reality Capture.