THE sculptor of the statue which will have pride of place in Cinderford's new-look Triangle this week waved farewell to his handiwork as it set off to London to be cast in bronze.

Also seeing it off to the foundry with artist Antony Dufort was miner and freeminer Dave Harvey, who modelled a staggering 250 hours for the striking work.

Antony's sculpture depicts Dave working on his knees to win coal from a narrow seam in the Northern United, which closed in 1965.

Dave's likeness, complete with authentic detail like the helmet, lamp and boots, will be lowered into place on a massive block of Forest stone in the Triangle on the site of the Union pub later this year.

Antony Dufort said he was very pleased with the work. "I enjoyed doing it very much," he said in the Yorkley chapel where he works.

He spent many hours of research making sure all the details were correct – it took ages to find authentic well-worn boots for example – and himself went down local mines to get a feel for the subject.

"I talked with Dave a lot about mining and miners as you can imagine. It was a very hard life, but you get the feeling he enjoyed every minute of it."

Dave was brought up in Berry Hill and went to the Cannop pit at 17. "It became a way of life," he said. "As a friend used to say, 'once you've got coal dust in your navel, you'll never shake it out'."

He moved to Northern United and stayed until it closed.

"It was a sad day," he said. "Miners were like a big family. You looked after everyone else and they looked after you. In the evenings you met your butties in the pub to play darts, dominoes or crib.'

He went on to work freemines of his own before retiring with back trouble and becoming something of a bard writing poetry with a uniquely local flavour.

•Later in the year a sculpture by Antony of Robin Morgan, owner of the Hopewell Colliery Museum, will be placed in the Triangle development – perhaps in a new visitor information centre, though this is not yet decided. It will symbolise the continuation of the freemining tradition in the 21st century.