June sees the launch in Gloucester of the Henson Pig Trail – or to give it its full title, the Royal Three Counties Show Gloucestershire Old Spots Trail. Organised by Marketing Gloucester, this is a sculpture trail around the city, following in the footsteps of the Scrumpty Trail in 2015. Scrumpty, as you may recall, was a character based on a mixture of Humpty Dumpty and a rugby ball – an appropriate theme for when the city was hosting the Rugby World Cup. It was hugely successful, attracting over 300,000 visitors.

We are not unique in hosting a sculpture trail – Bristol has the Gromit Trail, Northampton has had lions, Norwich has had dragons and the Cotswolds has the Cirencester March Hare Trail. The latter is spread all around the Cotswolds and beyond – from Bristol to Chipping Norton and Stratford, so it takes some travelling to see them all.

Named after the late Joe Henson
This time, we have gone for the Gloucestershire Old Spot pig – something which was suggested last time round. It is being named Henson after the late Joe Henson – a saviour of many rare breed animals, founder of the Cotswold Farm Park and father of Countryfile television star Adam. Two years ago, I could claim to have invented Scrumpty, but this year the Henson name came from Jennifer Richards, a listener to Mark Cummings’ Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

The pig that “saved the city” during the Siege of Gloucester
The Old Spot, by legend, is the pig that “saved the city” during the Siege of Gloucester – by making so much noise that the Royalists thought there were lots of pigs and there was no danger of the Parliamentarians running out of food!

The trail’s main sponsor is the Royal Three Counties Show, but many local businesses are sponsoring individual sculptures too. This year, the sculptures – each of which will have been painted by an artist – will not only be in Gloucester but beyond. I’m particularly proud of how we involve local schools to create smaller versions of the sculptures.

For more information see facebook.com/HensonTrail or thecityofgloucester.co.uk, but most importantly make sure you take a look at the real things.