THE great nephew of legendary Birmingham author JRR Tolkien is sculpting a statue of Cardinal Newman which will be specially placed in Cofton Park for the Papal visit.

Award-winning sculptor and Catholic Tim Tolkien has started work on the life-size statue of the Cardinal which will be fabricated in steel and sprayed with bronze.

Pope Benedict XVI will hold an open-air Mass at Cofton Park on September 19 and is expected to beatify Cardinal Newman in front of tens and thousands of pilgrims.

There are plans to get the statue, which is expected to be placed next to the stage, blessed by the Pope. Mr Tolkien, who is making the statue with Chris Yeomans, a blacksmith originally from Alvechurch, said the aim was to show him as a scholar and a priest rather than a Cardinal.

The statue will feature the Cardinal seated on a chair with a book and pen on a small table at his side.

Red sandstone for the six foot high plinth will be sourced from a local working quarry and the finished statue will be chemically aged for the visit.

Mr Tolkien, aged 47, who runs a wood carving and metal sculpture business in Cradley Heath, said he was approached by the council around three weeks ago to make the statue.

The father-of-two said: “I haven’t got time to make it complicated, it’s got to be simple. It’s going to be life -size rather than larger than life. “There is no council fund, no budget, money is being raised by sponsorship.

“It’s a great privilege. The Pope doesn’t come often and it’s happening in this city.