A North East artist has said it was 'extremely flattering' to see an homage to his popular First World War sculpture pop up on the other side of the world.

Photos emerged online of a statue in the Philippines that looked remarkably similar to Ray Lonsdale's Seaham landmark 'Tommy', a towering figure of a First World War soldier by the coast.

Filipino artist Richard H, who often constructs sculptures of wartime aircraft, built the homage to the original Tommy over 10,000 miles away from the original - at a castle he also built by hand.

Now, the statue has caught the attention of Tommy's original artist, Ray Lonsdale.

(Image: Richard H)

Richard told The Northern Echo: “I'm fifth generation British Army, and built the castle over 10 years and thought it would be great to make a Tommy. 

“A friend and I started chiselling out holes in the steps, there is no electric in the mountains here, the holes were for the rebar to be positioned for his feet.
 
“I started in August 2018, all freehand with chicken wire. He had to sit over 3 steps, everything was scaled up."

(Image: Richard H)

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(Image: Richard H)

According to Richard, the statue weighs in around two and a half tonnes and the soldier would be around 11 feet tall if he was standing up. The rifle in his hands is more than seven feet long.

Sculptor Ray Lonsdale, who crafted the original Tommy statue told The Northern Echo: "I was made aware of this a couple of days ago and I find it extremely flattering that the sculpture has had such an impact on someone so far away from its home. 

"I would like to thank and commend Richard for his version of my work. You never know one day we might get to see it in person."