Mick The Miller Monument
It is just over three years now, since the fabulous sculpture of Mick (created by Elizabeth O`Kane) was
unveiled on Killeigh village green by An Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen,
on Jan 29th 2011.
A crowd of over 400 people from Killeigh and all over Ireland
had attended the ceremony.
Notice the scar on his right cheek just under his
eye.
The plinth is made from stone from
the ruins of Millbrook House, where Mick was born.
It was built by local man,
Paddy Guilfoyle who also designed and layed out the paving area.
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Committee
The Mick The Miller Commemoration Committee was
formed in 2008 with the aim of erecting
a statue of Mick in the village, to highlight the fact that he
was born and raised in Killeigh. Since then several public and
numerous commmittee meetings were held.
From the beginning it was decided that only the
best would suffice and that the most appropriate statue
would have to be a bronze one.
The next step was trying to get funding.
Funding has come from sponsorship from local
businesses, donations from locals and donations from further
afield including one from the USA!
Of course we would not be where we are without
the fantastic support from the Irish Greyhound
Board (
Bord na gCon) who contributed a
grant of €7,000 to the monument.
Artist commissioned
In November 2009 the Committee commissioned artist/sculptor Elizabeth
O`Kane to produce our sculpture of Mick The Miller. Elizabeth
is renowned for her sculptures of people and animals.
Perhaps her most famous piece is her lifesize sculpture of Count John McCormack which stands in the Iveagh Gardens in
Dublin. You can see more of Elizabeth`s work on her website
www.elizabethokane.com.
Count
John McCormack
The committee chose Elizabeth on the basis of the quality
of her previous work and because of her unique interest in
greyhounds. Her father and grandfather were famous greyhound
owners and their dog, Priceless Border won the English Greyhound
Derby in 1948.
Priceless Border
A lot of effort has gone into trying to create an accurate
likeness of Mick The Miller. Our artist has visited the Natural
History Museum in Tring near London to view Mick and measure
him, she has consulted with a veterinary surgeon on greyhound anatomy, has visited Shelbourne Park regularly
and has even brought a live greyhound into her studio to model
from on several occasions.
The committee has supplied her with every available photo of
Mick as well as newspaper cuttings, memorablia and even
video footage of Mick. For more on the process
click here.
The committee cannot thank
Elizabeth enough for the interest that she showed, for her
professionlism and obviously her talent.
Below you can listen to Elizabeth speaking
about the project on the Pat Kenny Show;
listen here
Special thanks must go too, to
Leo Higgins of CAST Bronze Foundry, South Brown Street, Dublin
who cast the sculpture. Leo also advised on the sculpture
and the plinth as well as installing the sculpture. Please
visit CAST`s website
www.cast.ie.
Monument preparations
Over the last few months the committee briefly
toyed around with the idea of trying different locations for the
monument but recently (in consultation with The Tidy Towns
Committee) finallly decided on the original location on
the green.
The job of digging out the groundworks started on
5th October 2010.
Followed swiftly by the plinth construction.
Incidentally the plinth base is made from stone from the ruins
of Millbrook House ie Mick The Miller`s birthplace.
Then followed the construction of the viewing
area and paths.
And finally the placing of the plinth capping.
To hear an interview with Committee Chairman
prior to the unveiling ceremony click here;
Midlands Radio 3
Elizabeth O`Kane has since won the Irish Sculpture of the Year Award
(in 2013) for her piece
`Porcellino` at Millcove Gallery, Cork.You
can view a video of Elizabeth`s work put together by the Millcove
Gallery on Youtube.
If you would like to send us a donation for
the upkeep of the statue you can see our details on
the Contact Us page.
We also accept donations directly through Paypal to
donations@mickthemiller.com
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