HELP US GET BILLY CASPER INTO LEICESTER SQUARE

The Barnsley Kes Group and actor David ‘Dai’ Bradley are eager to get a copy of Graham Ibbeson’s 2021 statue installed in Leicester Square, London.

Permission has already been granted by the ‘Statues-In-The-Square’ organisers but we still need to raise approximately £45k to pay for a bronze replica, a plinth, installation and promotion of events on the day of unveiling. 

But what a fantastic boost to our town it will be to see Billy Casper sitting alongside other iconic sculptures - such as Mary Poppins - at the heart of British cinema. 

And what a day it will be when we get hundreds of Barnsley people down to London to witness the unveiling and join in the celebrations.

Casper deserves his place there because ‘Kes’ was voted the seventh best British film in history by the British Film Institute. And Danny Boyle used a clip for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games - to showcase everything that is great about British culture.

Moreover, the importance of Kes is proved by the many household names that say the film fundamentally changed their lives. These include Stephen Graham, David Thewliss, Christopher Ecclestone, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jarvis Cocker and many more.