27 October 2013
On Sunday 27th October 2013 at 12 noon a stunning metal sculpture commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was unveiled in Queen’s Park by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mr William Tucker.
The sculpture, beautifully crafted in the shape of a diamond with sixty facets signifying each year of Her Majesty’s reign, is a gift to the community of Chesterfield from Sterling Machining Limited.
For Sterling Machining Director Andy White, Sunday 27th not only represented a proud day for his company but also the culmination of a boyhood dream.
As a fourteen year-old Andy was profoundly impressed by a sculpture in the form of a crown that he saw in Crown Square, Matlock which had been made to mark the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 by Chesterfield Tube Works.
“I’ve always liked things made from metal” comments Andy “and I remember being so impressed at the crown and the way in which those industrial tubes made something really beautiful. I thought to myself ‘one day I’d like to do something like that’”.
Fate then took a hand and Andy went on to become an apprentice at the Tube Works where he met Tony Evans, now his co-director and business partner at Sterling Machining. Tony had actually been involved in making the crown and now, some 35 years later, he and and his son Anthony Evans – who also works at Sterling Machining – have also had a hand in the ‘Chesterfield Diamond’.
The inspiration for the Diamond came to Andy White on Christmas Day 2011, shortly after watching the Queen’s speech and perhaps a glass of wine!
“I had a bit of a brainstorming session with my family” says Andy “and came up with the idea of a diamond with each of the sixty facets engraved with a significant event for each year of the Queen’s reign”.
