CALLS are growing for the return of statues celebrating Workington’s unique sporting heritage after they were vandalised and removed seven years ago.

The statues paying tribute to the Uppies & Downies’ Medieval Easter game were the last work of the late Maryport artist Colin Telfer in 2010.

And now players and residents want them to be reinstated.

Joe Clark, a veteran Uppie player, said: “They represent the game of Workington, which goes back centuries.

“Equally important, they were the last commission Colin did before he lost his sight and later died.

“They were the last statues he ever produced.

“He was a lovely man, he picked up on the history of the game and we worked out ideas.

“It’s really sad that after all that work and history, some people chose to vandalise them.”

The statues were then removed and put into storage by Allerdale council. Now the authority needs to consider how to fund the repairs and where to site them.

Joe Sandwith, a veteran Downie, believes they should be sited in the town centre instead of what he branded “meaningless” sculptures opposite HSBC and on Ivison Lane.

“The Uppies and Downies statues would be better for the town and they should be in a prominent position.

“If you can have a so-called clock in there, which resembles something that should be in a scrapyard, you definitely can have the Uppies and Downies statues.

“They should be in different prominent positions.”

One of the statues was originally sited at the Downie’s hailing point at the harbour, and the other at the Uppies’ hailing point at Workington Hall.

Mr Clark said: “I’d like them to be where they are meant to be at the hailing points, but the world being as it is at the moment somewhere better would perhaps be in the town centre, where there is CCTV.”

A spokesman for Allerdale council said: “The council is always keen to celebrate the heritage of its towns, and these statues were designed to do just that in Workington.

“However, unfortunately, when these statues were originally sited they were repeatedly vandalised, which cost money to repair, and so a decision was taken to remove them.

“They are safely in storage whilst an alternative suitable site is found for them both.”

One statue, comprising three figures in liquorice black, featured the Uppies. Traditionally they were coal miners from Clifton and adjacent areas.

The red Downies statue also features three players. The Downies were historically the men who loaded iron ore onto the ships, hence their reddened appearance after working with haematite.