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After years of fundraising, a statue of the Caerphilly-born magician and comic Tommy Cooper was unveiled at the Twyn in 2008.
By Cooper’s feet is a rabbit, who has remained nameless – until now.
In September, Caerphilly Observer teamed up with the Tommy Cooper Society and the RSPCA to offer readers the chance to name the rabbit.
The winning entry was submitted by six-year-old Dewi Tamplin, from Caerphilly, who chose the name ‘Phill’ in homage to his home town.
Dewi’s mother, Sharon Tamplin, said her son was “over the moon” and “very excited” when he found out he had won the competition.
Sharon said: “Whenever Dewi was little, we’d always take him to see the rabbit.”
Dewi admitted he “screamed the house down” after being told he had won and said he felt “really proud” – but said none of his friends at school believed him when he told them the news.
His father, Owain Tamplin, said: “Dewi knew the statue so I thought it would be a good idea for him to try and come up with a name. We sent if off but we didn’t expect to hear anything back.”
As well as naming the rabbit, Dewi will also receive top prizes supplied by the RSPCA – including subscription to its Animal Life Magazine, and Animal Action Magazine for kids, plus a goodie bag of rabbit-themed gifts – including a mug, washbag, wildlife cuddly toy and set of handcrafted figurines.
Tudor Jones MBE, 88, is the chairman of the Tommy Cooper Society; and was formerly chair of the RSPCA’s local Glamorgan North East branch for some 37 years.
He said: “I was recently giving a talk to an audience in Caerphilly about Cooper’s life – and one of the ladies in attendance said her grandson loved nothing more than going to see the statue – but not to see Tommy, but the rabbit instead.
“This struck me as a great opportunity to name the rabbit – to hopefully create a bit of interest locally in Tommy Cooper, and the work our society does.
“We put the statue up – unveiled by Sir Anthony Hopkins – a good few years ago. The rabbit was originally supposed to be climbing up Cooper’s shin; but the sculptor had some trouble getting the animal to stick. So, the rabbit was moulded on separately instead and is looking out at the audience – the people of Caerphilly – saying ‘here I am, I’m not in the hat’.”
The Tommy Cooper Society wanted the competition to provide a good opportunity for people across south Wales and beyond to discuss rabbit welfare.
Mr Jones said: “During my time with the local RSPCA branch, inspectors would often attend our meetings and tell us about rabbit rescues, or sad stories where they investigated rabbit cruelty.”
In 2020, 672 rabbits came into the RSPCA’s care, and during 2021, 859 were taken in by the RSPCA – an increase of 28%. There’s growing concern the spike in unwanted rabbits is linked to the pets being acquired during lockdown; or people being unable to afford to care for them amid cost-of-living pressures.
Mr Jones said the society, which now raises money to install potentially life-saving heart defibrillators across Caerphilly County Borough, would now look at getting a plaque fitted to the statue with the rabbit’s new name.
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