Susan sows the seeds of peace

The Peace Plough will be going to Holy Island

A lady from Garstang is hoping a controversial sculpture will promote peace.

The Peace Plough is made up of decommissioned machine guns, grenades and other replica weapons of war.

Retired gardener Susan Andrews master minded the project and says it is a personal plea to put an end to war.

She explains:"The message is simple: stop fighting and feed the world."

I'm really pleased with it and I hope it changes the way people think and act even if it is just in a small way. Susan Andrews

The Peace Plough is on show in the Bible Garden at the Garstang United Reformed Church which is her local church.

However, she has plans to take it on tour to spread the message about the effects of war. It is already booked to go to Holy Island of Lindisfarne, next summer.

Susan, 68, says she was inspired to produce the artwork by words of the prophet Isaiah quoted in the Bible.

"They will hammer their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again." (Isaiah 2: v4)

Susan explains: "Farming friends David and Mary [France] donated an ancient plough and I got artist Nick Watton to turn my rather crude sketch into a drawing that we could work from. Then our local blacksmith Austin Walmsley agreed to do all the metal work."

Susan Andrews got the inspiration from the prophet Isaiah

The artwork portrays war throughout history and even today. There is a Roman sword and spear, slave chains, a belt of bullets and even knives representing modern-day knife crime.

Vine leaves sprout out of barbed wire symbolising her hope for the end of wars and barbaric fences of imprisonment.

So what does she think of the finished article? "I'm really pleased with it and I hope it changes the way people think and act even if it is just in a small way."

As well as putting an end to the atrocities caused by war, she says the money spent on fighting wars should be used to help feed starving people around the globe.

She said: "Bob Geldof's campaign made a very great impression on me - one man moved the whole world to help starving people."

Sue says she isn't a pacifist. "I believe that we are designed genetically to defend our homes and ourselves just as bees defend their hives by stinging intruders.

"But humans also have the ability to change the way we do things and we can fight for a good cause by words rather than bullets."

The sculpture is more serious than her previous project; a book of short stories about the inane questions hairdressers ask. "It used to drive me mad," said Susan.

She even invited her hairdresser to the book launch of 'Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies' although she did have the grace to apologise to her!

The plough is Susan's first sculpture and - although she is delighted with the finished article - she vows it will also be her last.

"I have a new project in the pipeline. I don't want to say too much as it is the very early stages but it is definitely not another sculpture."