A FORMER nurse is calling for hospital bosses to raise the money to restore a 100-year-old statue to its former glory.

Michael Wyatt wants to see the full-length sculpture of King Edward VII restored and given pride of place at the hospital.

It once stood above the doorway to a nurses' home in Chorley New Road, The 62-year-old, who trained at the Bolton Royal Infirmary and is a member of the Bolton Nurses League, is so determined to bring the statute out of storage at the Royal Bolton Hospital he has already written to the Queen and the Government, appealing for their help.

Hospital managers claim it will cost £50,000 to restore the statue and place it in the hospital grounds.

Mr Wyatt said: "This statue is not only part of the hospital's history it is also part of Bolton's past and is a work of art in itself.

"The statue should have been re-erected as soon as the Bolton Royal Infirmary closed and moved to its current site, not put in storage and forgotten about by almost everyone."

Despite being told by both Buckingham Palace and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport that there was nothing they could do to help, Mr Wyatt of Tintern Avenue in Whitefield, is determined to continue with his fight on behalf of the Bolton Nurses League.

He now wants to see chiefs at the Royal Bolton Hospital apply for lottery funding, or appeal to the local business community or council bosses to fund the project.

He said: "The hospital needs to appeal for help to display this statue once more.

"It's not just a great piece of sculptured masonry, it is a symbol of an institution that gave decades of great service, not only to the people of Bolton and the towns around it, but to people from all over the world."

Hospital bosses say they are not in a position to apply for a lottery grant to restore the statue and do not have the staff to approach the council or local firms.

Heather Edwards, head of communications at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: "We don't currently have the resources to fundraise or submit further bids for restoring this statue while we have more urgent patient priorities.

"We have been exploring further options, such as putting up the statue ourselves, though we are not experts in this field. Otherwise if Mr Wyatt is able to raise sufficient funds to enable us to put the statue up then we would be very grateful."