Friday Photo: Spitfire Island

This week’s Friday photo concentrates on a monument, rather than a building. The ‘Sentinel’, or Spitfire sculpture, as it is also known, stands proudly on the aptly-named ‘Spitfire Island’ on the Castle Bromwich and Castle Vale border, only yards from the factory where the iconic plane was manufactured. Designed by Tim Tolkien and created in 2000, the Spitfire monument is a much-loved piece of art, and one of my favoutie pieces of design in the city. I drive past it every day on my way to work, and it not only stands as a reminder of great-British engineering and design, but it tells a story steeped in history, and one that Birmingham can be extremely proud of. After all, over 11,000 Spitfires were manufactured in the Castle Bromwich factory during the course of the Second World War, just metres away!

Anne-Marie Hayes