Coronation Street star officially reveals Magic Trees sculpture at Shropshire hospice
Coronation Street star Ian Puleston-Davies was in Shropshire to cut the ribbon on a new sculpture at Hope House Children's Hospice.
The actor, who plays Owen Armstrong, officially revealed the Magic Trees sculpture at the entrance to the hospice in Morda, near Oswestry.
It has been created as a joint venture between the Project arts group, recently renamed Designs in Mind, and the siblings of children at the hospice.
Huge colourful tree branches have been decorated with wire sculptures of birds, animals, pixies and sprites.
Mr Puleston-Davies will be leaving the c obbles of Wetherfield in the new year but said he would never rule out returning to the ITV soap for future story lines.
He said: "I have been with Coronation Street for five years and while I have enjoyed it, there are other things I want to get involved in.
"I am a writer, I have some scripts in the pipeline and will be working on them," he said.
Mr Puleston-Davies said he had been invited to tour Hope House in the summer and had seen the start of the work on the sculpture.
"They very kindly invited me back to do the official ribbon cutting," he said.
"I have children myself and so I want to do something to help. I am also a patron of Manchester Children's Hospital and the Hospice of the Good Shepherd and, as a biker, I took part in the Toy Run to Claire Hospice in Liverpool.
"That is one of the wonderful pluses of getting the role in Coronation Street. If can use my 'fame' to help in whatever small way I can, then that is brilliant it is an opportunity to help."
Two of the youngsters who helped with the Magic Trees project are Olivia Fox, 12, from Oswestry and Nancy Rickard, 11, from Shrewsbury, who have become good friends from working on the sculpture.
Olivia's brother, Matthew diedin June at the age of 18 and she says meeting other siblings has been helpful during a difficult time.
"I have enjoyed doing the sculpture – I made Dobbie from Harry Potter to go on the trees," she said.
Mike Edwards, a Project group member, was involved in the sculpture from the beginning, even collecting the wood from the fallen trees on the Brogyntyn estate.
"Working with the children has been brilliant," he said.
