Dennis Fogden asks if anyone knows the origin of the lion statue at the Trout Inn at Godstow, Oxford (Oxford Mail, September 23).

My father, William (Bill) Loveridge, who is almost 91, spent all his childhood and most of his adult life as a resident of Wolvercote.

His father, William George Loveridge, did a lot of work for the owners of the Trout.

My father recalls that in the early thirties, there was a resident at the Trout, not the owner, who was known to the boys of the village as 'Ol' Gosling'.

He was a somewhat scruffy looking gentleman, but appeared well off and well connected to the horse racing fraternity.

My father recalls that his father assisted in the removal of the Godstow lion from a lorry, during the process of which the tail broke off. The lion, it was learned, had been obtained from Stratton Audley Manor, near Bicester, the country seat of the Gosling family.

It was not known under what circumstances it was acquired, but it was presumed to have been through a family connection of 'Ol' Gosling'.

My grandfather mended the lion's tail by drilling into the relevant sections and inserting a metal rod. My father clearly recalls the crown, to which Mr Fogden refers, and agrees that it was generally believed to have been thrown into the river.

'Ol' Gosling' eventually moved from the Trout, apparently to return to Stratton Audley, but my father has little knowledge of him thereafter.

I would add that my father scans the Oxford Mail avidly for any articles relating to those 'historic' days of his youth and thoroughly enjoys your newspaper.

SUSAN WATSON Foxdown Close, Kidlington