A Leeds arts organisation is set to make 400 hand-decorated figures, with the help of
local communities, to celebrate the city’s quadricentennial anniversary.
13 July 2026 marked four centuries since the Borough of Leeds (now called the City of
Leeds) received its Royal Charter from King Charles I.
To celebrate this milestone, Skippko Arts Team, a Leeds-based community arts
organisation, are creating 400 miniature figurines depicting people from or related to
Leeds.
The project, titled ‘People of Leeds’, is being run by Anne Crowther and Annie Beech,
two local artists who are part of the Skippko collective.
As part of the project, they have sent approximately 60 individual and 15 group packs to
local communities and individuals, encouraging them to make figures of people they
believe are important to Leeds. The community participants have also been asked to
share who the figures they have created are and why they have been chosen.
Anne Crowther said: “What’s been nice […] are the stories that they’ve shared.
People have celebrated their local community heroes or recognised significant people
who have supported them through illness and things like that.”
Crowther and Beech have also run workshops in local community spaces as part of the
‘People of Leeds’ project, one of which was held in the Drawing Room at Leeds City
Library on 19 October 2026.
Some notable Leeds figures created at the event included: Nicola Adams, the first
British woman to receive an Olympic gold medal for Boxing; Albert Goldthorpe, captain
of Hunslet’s 1907-08 Rugby Club when the team won ‘All Four Cups’; and the Bogwitch,
the mascot of one of Leeds’ trans- and non-binary-inclusive football teams.
A community participant who created a self-portrait figurine said: “I chose myself
because I’ll eternally be a Leeds girl.
“For me I resonate so much with Leeds […] After such a long time abroad and away
from Leeds, I still felt that click and that connection.
“When it comes to Leeds, I think just heartwarming.
“Even instances like this where the community can get together to create something
that celebrates heritage, regardless of where you’re from or where you are at present
time, that reflects what type of community and what type of resilience and the strong
bond that people of Leeds have with one another.”
After the 400 figures have been returned to Skippko, they will be put on display at the
Leeds City Museum between December and Spring. To learn more about Skippko’s
projects, visit their website here.
Leeds Libraries are also celebrating the anniversary through the ‘Leeds400’ curation.
Archived materials are currently being shown at Leeds City Library, as well as online via
their Leodis archives website. To learn more about the Leeds400 curation, visit the
Leeds Libraries webstie here, and the Leodis archives website here.