When we carried a Lion Statue to the summit of the Sugarloaf in Abergavenny for a photoshoot, we had no idea that the adventure would cause such a stir in the national press, even making the Times newspaper and a spot on BBC Breakfast News!
The idea came about when we were watching the new Lion King movie, and being huge fans, we decided if we could create our very own Pride Rock at sunrise, scene using our very own life sized Lion.
Event Prop Shop has a whole menagerie, of life-sized animal statues, that we use to decorate events and parties and clients are always asking us to provide inspiring imagery, to get their creative juices flowing, when planning their events.
The decision was made, and at 4.00am, on the 13th August, our Creative Director, Steve Bancroft, with the assistance of friend and colleague, Mark Taylor of Kustom Signs in Cwmbran, made their way to the car park at the foot of the Sugarloaf Mountain in Abergavenny with the Lion secured in the back of the van.
Using head torches to light the route, the pair set off with the Lion secured to a trolley and began to make their way up the mountain.
The path up starts of relatively smooth, but gets bumpier and rockier as the climb begins to steepen. After about half an hour pushing the trolley, it was apparent that it had become just too steep and if they were to make the summit before sunrise, the Lion would have to be carried the rest of the way.
At 5.55am, the unusual party made it to the top of the Sugarloaf and they had just a few minutes to catch their breath and position the Lion Statue, before the sun rose in the distance, toward Hereford.
After a glorious few minutes bathed in a warm orange glow, the sun rose higher in the sky and the moment was over!
A few precious images had been captured and it was time to make the arduous descent back down the mountain, lugging the massive statue.
A few days later, delighted with the photographs, Steve shared a few on a couple of online, Brecon Beacons Walking Groups and interest quickly began to mount in the pictures and in the story.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and the images have been shared Nationwide, even making it on to BBC Breakfast National News!
Here are a few of the many newspaper articles, that have featured the story!