IT'S only fair that after being exposed to all sorts of weather conditions, foul and fair, for the last 94 years, the old girl needed a bit of a wash and brush up.

Yes, Queen Victoria has been gingerly hoisted after painstaking preparations and whisked away for a face-lift after reigning serenely outside St Helens Town Hall since the early years of the century.

Almost unnoticed last Friday morning, a massive crane slipped into her namesake square and engineers began the task of raising the statue from its pedestal. Inch by inch, Victoria lifted higher, and was then tenderly swung free, coming to rest on the ground in front of the town hall steps before being transferred to her 'royal carriage'.

Lashed by rain, peppered with hail, blanketed by snow and choked by traffic fumes, the bronze statue has now been taken off to Liverpool for refurbishment.

She was lifted off her plinth in Victoria Square after a two-week delay while engineers sorted out insurance cover and a crane firm willing - and capable - of undertaking the job.

The National Museum and Galleries conservation centre on Merseyside will undertake the renovation of the statue as part of a £1 million scheme to create a pedestrian piazza outside the town hall. The statue will move to another place in the square on its return in the spring.

FORMER mayor Colonel WW Pilkington gave the statue to the town in 1905 to mark being granted the freedom of the borough.

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