North Lincolnshire craftsman's tribute to world’s oldest Humboldt penguin Rosie
The talents of a North Lincolnshire woodcarver have leant themselves to a special project at a popular tourist attraction.
Sewerby Hall and Gardens, in East Yorkshire, engaged Allen Stichler to create some carvings of much-beloved Humboldt penguin Rosie, who died in March 2023 at the grand old age of 32. The celebrated penguin became a media star as the world’s oldest bird of her breed.
Allen, of Barrow Upon Humber, has recorded her as such, with a close-up carving of her face and portraits of her standing and swimming, in a large section of a fallen tree at the visitor attraction near Bridlington. People responded to Allen’s post on Facebook, with one saying: “How touching and beautiful.”
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One person said: “What a wonderful tribute to Rosie” while another posted a reply saying: “Beautiful tribute. Will have to pay a visit again to see this.”
Allen said: “Everyone knew about Rosie. It was very special for me to be able to commemorate her in this way and the carving has been very popular.
“It took about five or six days to complete. There are three images of Rosie and some lettering.
“I was working in situ – this was a large piece of timber. I work on things like stumps, some are up ladders and some mean I am on my knees for a few weeks. It’s always different and there is a huge variety to my work.”
Allen has also recently created a range of other animal carvings at Sewerby Hall and Gardens, including a citron-crested cockatoo, a llama, an eclectus parrot, a ring-tailed lemur, a kunekune pig and a Boer goat. He posted a message of gratitude saying: “Thanks to all the staff and visitors for the kind comments throughout and the enthusiasm for the carvings.”
Allen, who grew up in the North Cave and Howden area of East Yorkshire and later lived in Hull, has been residing in Barrow Upon Humber for about ten years, where he now has his workshop. He has been a full-time woodcarver for the past 15 years.
He said: “I started off with it as a hobby briefly. I showed Jackie Ward-Lomax [a Hull sculptor who died aged 82 earlier this year] what I did and she said she was getting a bit old for climbing up trees and she would recommend me.
“I was made redundant from my normal job just a few weeks afterwards, so fate played a bit of hand in things and I was very grateful to Jackie. I really enjoy the creative side and work with my customers quite closely to make carvings that are unique and personal to them.”
Allen has worked at Sewerby for the past five or six years. “Whenever something comes down I tend to get a call to see if I’d like to do something with it.
“When the giant monkey puzzle came down during the Beast from the East, I did 15 or so pieces around the woodland walk with lines from poems, things like that.”
He worked some wildlife-themed images into some logs from a fallen beech tree near the putting green and some fairy-themed carvings near to the park entrance. He said: “Every time things get blown over, it gives them an extra lease of life.
“It’s nice to use wood in this way. It’s kind of recycling.” You can find out more at Allen Stichler Woodcarving.