WEDDING reveller ends up with his very own landmark

A DRUNKEN night out with friends and family did not just leave gardener Malcolm Hockham with a sore head the next morning - but a 10ft version of the Angel of the North as well.

For the tipsy reveller awoke to the news that not only had he forked out a fortune on drinks at his brother's wedding, but he had also agreed to buy a replica of the North-East landmark.

Mr Hockham, originally from West Sussex, but now living in Eggleston, County Durham, had decided to rescue the sculpture after his local vicar had told him that, after it had been used in a local flower festival, it was destined to be chopped up and thrown away.

So without thinking about the consequences he offered to buy it, and forgot about it until the next morning when the vicar reminded him that he owed him £100 for his angel.

Mr Hockham said: "I'd had a few drinks and I just thought 'right, I'll buy it'. I know I must have been drunk because he offered it to me for £50 and I haggled him up to £100.

"I got the shock of my life in the morning when the vicar turned up."

Thankfully, his new purchase has found the perfect home in the grounds of Egglestone Hall Gardens, which Malcolm co-owns with his business partner Gordon Long.

The plywood angel now takes pride of place perched on one of the walls and is a big crowd-puller, but the job of getting it to the gardens was no mean feat.

Mr Hockham said: "Everybody hated it when I got it, and I couldn't get anybody to help me shift it from the local church to the gardens.

"I eventually managed to put it on the back of a truck, but I had to take it through the town of Barnard Castle, and I got some very funny looks. I think even the police were too confused to stop and ask what the hell I was doing with a 10ft Angel of the North on my wagon.