George Leeman Statue, York:

This was a small project that required William Anelay’s urgent attention to carry out the cleaning works to the statue prior to the Queen’s visit to York for Royal Ascot.

The works involved a full independent scaffold to be erected around the statue, which allowed further inspections to investigate the extent of the works required needed. After the investigation work had been carried out, a combination of DOFF and TORC processes were used to restore the statue to its former glory.

George Leeman led the formation of the North Eastern Railway Company in 1854 and furthered York's rail links by cutting the journey time to London to 5 hours. By the mid 1800’s, the railways had become a major employer in York and in 1880 the railway engineering and carriage works in Holgate employed up to 5,500 staff.