Leeds nostalgia: Woollen district comes to city centre

An enterprising Leeds Polytechnic student saved two sheep from the butcher's block by buying them and putting them '˜out to pasture' on the lawns of the higher education institution.

Gavin Lockhart, 23, bought the pair at Harrogate meat market for £4,.60 each. He said: “I shall keep them for as long as they are happy. I don’t want to make pets of them so I don’t give them affection. But there is trust between us.”

By day the sheep cropped the grass and by night they were put in a pen. Alexander Weatherson, senior lecturer in the Fine Arts department, said: “We think this is a worthwhile project, as it has a sociological theme. It involves studying people’s reactions to unexpected phenomenon. The sheep themselves have behaved very well.”

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