HIGH Wycombe’s iconic Red Lion statue will get another facelift - thanks to the generosity of our readers.

Readers will remember that the Bucks Free Press led a fundraising campaign back in 2017 to enable the crumbling statue in the High Street to be restored to its former glory.

The statue was made 75 years ago from Quebec Pine to replace an older statue that is now in High Wycombe museum.

Thanks to the contributions from many readers and other people the campaign was successful and allowed the necessary restoration work to be carried out by a team led by master-carver Colin Mantripp at his Lillyfee studio and workshops at Wooburn Common. The funding also provided for ongoing inspection by Lillyfee and this has now determined that maintenance work will now be required.

This was anticipated after a major restoration, because there will always be some movement between the newly-restored timber and the old timber.

The statue needs sanding down, a little filling where necessary, priming, under-coating and painting.

It is now an ideal time for this work to be carried as the timber has dried out after hot weather. Colin and his team will be doing the work shortly.