We’re excited—it’s now in place!

Exciting news!

The contractors let us know recently that they have successfully completed the installation of the memorial. Accordingly, it is now in place on its plinth, and sited at the edge of woodland area at the National Memorial Arboretum. If you would like to see its position in the NMA on Google Maps, click here. Select the Satellite layer, and you can see the layout of the NMA, the paths, and how near it is to the Quaker Service Memorial, which is marked on that layer.

When will we formally unveil it?

The NMA require that art works have to be in place for three months before any official unveiling, so we are making plans for the official ceremony in the Summer.

How did we get here?

As mentioned elsewhere, this all started as an individual’s concern in 2013 about civilian victims of war. Local Quakers took up Joyce Gee’s concern over the ensuing months and established a working party to develop the idea. After finding that the sculptor Peter Walker had approached the NMA with a similar idea, the working group established a secular charitable trust in 2019. They commissioned the art work and formally started fund-raising. The pandemic delayed our fund-raising launch and subsequent initiatives, but the working group kept at it. Installing the memorial was the first of our charitable trust’s two objectives, and we have now achieved it! We owe a great debt of thanks to all our supporters along the way. Although it has taken over a decade from inception, we believe it has been worth the wait.

What next?

The second objective of the Pity of War charitable trust is to develop the educational programme. Therefore, the working group has started planning this, and will post updates on here as things develop.