WHEN a Ribble Valley firm was asked to help make a tribute to football legend Sir Tom Finney, they knew just which staff members to put on the job...the ones with Preston North End season tickets!
Work on a re-creation of The Splash - a picture taken in 1956 of Sir Tom Finney during a PNE match - is set to take pride of place outside the club's Deepdale stadium.
But being able to recreate the water which sprayed up from Sir Tom as he dodged a challenge while racing down the wing at Chelsea's waterlogged Stamford Bridge ground, had proved difficult - until now.
Longridge-based Walter Carefoot and Sons have come up with a design which will enable a fountain to recreate the watery-effects.
And the job is more than just an extra contract. The men involved in creating the base and fountain are all PNE season ticket-holders and most remember Sir Tom's glory days.
The firm's business development manager Joe Moxham said the company had worked on projects with Sir Tom's plumbing business, which he went into after retiring from football. He said: "We have had an association with Tom Finney for at least 50 years and his company has been one of our subcontractors.
"We are proud to be associated with the statue. The staff selected to manage the works are long-standing season ticket-holders and can recall Tom's playing days with fondness."
Club chairman Derek Shaw said: "We're really pleased to have a permanent and lasting monument and hope to unveil the statue before the start of the new season. We want it to be a fitting tribute to North End's legend."
The £200,000 project honouring Sir Tom, who was knighted in 1998, has been paid for using donations from fans around the world, businesses and with regional development cash.
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