I'm pleased that you like it Lisa. I know I've mentioned it before but I get a real buzz out of seeing the web site logo cast in bronze
I can answer some of your points fully but others I will need to confirm with the Council's Project Manager.
The plaque is bonded to the stump with epoxy resin, not just across its surface but also via threaded rods penetrating deep into the stump. The grey grout / filler that you can see around the edge is just filling the gaps between the wood and the casting. So we may have missed a trick with the angle the plaque is sitting but it can't be tilted any further and it's not going to be possible to remove it without a lot of damage. It was done this way because bronze is quite nickable and we wanted to make it very hard to steal (I understand that prices of scrap metal have dropped recently, like everything else, and this is not such a high risk now).
Regarding the barriers, this is something we made a fuss about early on, soon after they were originally fitted. My understanding is that we are still waiting for the sculptor to finish the carving and treat the stump and the current barriers have been left as they are to provide him with the access he needs. I'm expecting the barriers to be improved and to allow you to get much closer once that is done but I will confirm this with the PM to make sure I have understood the situation properly.
If the barriers are improved the way I envisage then it may alleviate some of the discomfort you experienced when reading it. I hope so.
To finish on a positive note, we still have to fit a listening post near to the plaque. This will allow people to press a button and hear the text on the plaque being read aloud. Although this is intended to make the information available to the blind or partially sighted it will also benefit the disabled and anyone else who is not able to get close enough to read it comfortably.
