IT is now 25 years since the late Jonathan Plephs saw his vision begin to take shape when, along with the help of the late Chris Allen, he formed the start of Tout Quarry Sculpture Park.

From small beginings, the old quarry soon became a mecca for sculptors of renown such as Anthony Gormley and students who all worked in situ, leaving behind their legacies in Portland stone.

To mark this milestone, a symposium entitled A Threshold of Time has been held, attracting artists from far and wide to Tout Quarry.

Artists such as Canadian stone sculptor Stephen Yettaw carving a large 30-ton stone that has a lifesize triceratops dinosaur walking into a cave where the outline of a nine-year-old is cut into the rock so that other children can fit into it, blending the present with the past.

His visit was also to share in the Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust's work on quarry regeneration through the arts and to form ideas to set up a sculpture park in a reclaimed mining site in Alberta.

Regular visitors to Tout over the past eight years, 10 Dutch artists from Group 85 have spent the past two weeks at the quarry working on carvings in the top workshop at Tout, an area which they have regenerated and they have also been working on a stone sculpture for the Drill Hall on the them of strata and time'.

Members of the group, Maurice Dorren and Jaque Schmidt are the artists who carved the large capstone pterodactyl, dinosaur eye, mastodon and bison in the top area which the group has transformed with their large carvings, stone seating and large roach stone table.

Leonard Wijttman is blind and carves stone by touch alone and he has done a carving of his guide dog Vogie but this will not be seen in Tout as Leonard has donated it to the George Inn to be displayed in the pub garden to help in raising funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Time Travelling in Stone' Workshops for children featuring stone carving, drawing, painting and mask making were organised and run by Royal Manor Arts College student Leanne Stone and her friends at the Drill Hall.

Many others from the community contributed to the 25th anniversary and Hannah Soefar and Paul Crabtree from PSQT wish to thank the community for their continuing support of the project and are grateful to Stone Firms Ltd, Portland Stone Ltd, Albion Stone plc, G Crook and Sons Ltd, J Smith Glass Engraving and the Clifton Hotel.

Tout Quarry is now a valuable creative and educational resource from which quarry regeneration elswhere on the island has developed so now, in effect, it is a lasting memorial to Jonathan and his assistant Chris, the two former Fleet Air Arm pilots who made their homes in Fortuneswell and started it all.