It’s 50 years since Southend Civic Centre’s controversial fountain was built.

Back then the sculpture - a unique piece of art in its own right - caused eyebrows to raise thanks to its hefty £8,500 price tag.

Arguments were made the funds could be better spent on the myriad of social and economic problems facing Southend at the time, including the threat of closure of Southend Pier due to neglect and a lack of funds.

But nevertheless, the unusual-looking fountain, consisting of three standing stone style slabs grouped in a circle at the centre of a round brick-built fountain trough, got the go ahead.

Crafted out of mainly glass fibre and black concrete, the 20ft high fountain, featuring carvings of the Southend coat of arms as well as a medieval fisherman and a Cluniac monk, was built by William Mitchell.

The English sculptor, artist and designer is best known for his large scale concrete murals and public works of art from the 1960s and 1970.

He would go on to spend many years as artistic design adviser to Mohammed Al Fayed.

Mitchell was responsible for the overall design and for the carving and modelling of the panels for the Egyptian Hall and the Egyptian escalator at Harrods in London.

He also designed Innocent Victims, the statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed at Harrods.

But his Civic Centre fountain is what he will be remembered for in Southend.

The photograph above shows the sculpture, and what is likely to be William Mitchell, in progress in September of 1971 when it was estimated to be ‘two weeks away from completion’.

The fountain was to be the showpiece of the Civic Centre building in Victoria Avenue, which had been officially opened in 1967 by the Queen Mother.

But at the same time exactly half a century ago another amusing story involving the Civic Centre took the focus off the fountain cost row.

In October of 1971 a lunchtime record concert was underway at the Civic Centre and the audience was being roused by some of Beethoven’s most popular symphonies when all of a sudden the music stopped and a different sound filled the airwaves- the sound of a police car radio blaring out.

In other parts of the building messages being radioed by midwives around the town also became audible to everyone.

Meanwhile at the Southend courthouse barristers were making eloquent speeches when they were stopped mid sentence as a barrage of 999 distress calls came over the public address system.

What on earth was going on?

It turned out the trouble all stemmed from the aerials on top of the Civic Centre which were going haywire.

The engineers in charge of the problem deemed the ariels were too low and were causing the radio chaos about the town.

Plans were put in place to raise them to a much higher level to avoid any criss-crossing on the airwaves again.

As for the fountain, which continues to be enjoyed today, half a century on, it became beloved by art lovers everywhere because of its intricate design.

It also became a magnet for schoolchildren with washing up bottles eager to create their own fun ‘bubble baths’ in the fountain.

One such prank occurred in December of 1971 when students decided to fill the fountain with soap suds in protest at the Education Ministry’s proposals to change the way Student Unions were to be run.

The incident didn’t go down well with council leaders who deemed it “childish” and threatened to make the students pay for the damage.

A council official stormed: “It will take all day to put the fountain right. The soap can clog the nozzles and they will have to be removed and cleaned!”