The 'Praying Moses' of West Nab

LAST week we had some fun with the weird, mostly natural 'sculpture park' at West Nab, above Meltham.

"We wedged a book under some rocks up there for visitors to sign and say what they thought of it, but the book disappeared."He always loved art and would have loved to have gone to art college, but he had to earn a living so he went into the mill."He called it 'Moses at prayer' but we don't know why. He wasn't particularly religious," she said."Later, he started a property renovation business and got a set of stonemason's hammers and chisels. He built his own house, but he carved sculptures to relax.CAPTION(S):The pictures left and right tell the story."I might go up there soon and put another book there."Valda tells me this was carved by her father in the early 1970s. The family lived then in Thongsbridge, but had previously lived in Cudworth and Holmfirth.* ROCK FESTIVAL: 'Moses at prayer' by Kenneth Maw with Kenneth's daughter Valda (front) and two friends in the early 1970s. (tmc120711westnab) * CHIPPING AWAY: Dave Andrews' 'praying man'' at West Nab, Meltham. (tmc050711man)Objects - of art or nature - include an etched 'compass', a 'urinal' and a 'chaise longue'."We would go with him to play at West Nab while he was carving Moses.Left is Dave's picture of what appears to be a monk, carved in bas-relief on a West Nab rock.

* ROCK FESTIVAL: 'Moses at prayer' by Kenneth Maw with Kenneth's daughter Valda (front) and two friends in the early 1970s. (tmc120711westnab) * CHIPPING AWAY: Dave Andrews' 'praying man'' at West Nab, Meltham. (tmc050711man)