One of the important recommendations in the LGBT Veterans Independent Review by Lord Etherton was that there should be a Government funded public memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, to all LGBT people who have served and continue to serve in the military. The Government has agreed to fund a Memorial and has allocated a grant to Fighting With Pride for this purpose.
Critical elements of the project are that the Memorial should reflect the views of the LGBT serving and veteran community and that the memorial will provide an appropriate environment for remembrance, build community pride and raise broader awareness of the LGBT Armed Forces community and their experiences. The Memorial will also aim to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBT Veterans, serving personnel and their families, through active recognition and inclusion of the LGBT Armed Forces community.
The design of the memorial will be done in collaboration by a wide variety of organisations, including those which have the support and respect of veterans who served under and suffered from, the Ban (R17 and R18 of the review report). We are proud to be working with the following on the LGBT Armed Forces Community Memorial:
Royal British Legion, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, National Memorial Arboretum, Office for Veterans Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Stonewall, LGBT Foundation, Women’s Royal Army Corps Association, Help for Heroes, SaluteHer, Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, SSAFA.
Honorary Art Advisors: Lucy Ash.
Fighting With Pride have now started to engage with the LGBT Armed Forces Community to gather ideas to help design an appropriate memorial. A Steering Group has been established, comprising of individuals from organisations and charities with deep knowledge of memorialisation, together with Veterans and serving personnel.
Regional meetings are planned in Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Blackpool in September to facilitate community involvement and there will also be virtual Townhalls to ensure maximum participation. The plan is to have options from the community consultation, refined by the Steering Group and passed to the Fighting With Pride Board of Trustees in November to enable a design decision to be taken. This will be followed by a transparent tender phase and site preparation, construction with a view to an unveiling ceremony in Summer/Autumn 2025.
Roly Woods has been appointed by the Fighting With Pride Board of Trustees to lead this important project as Memorial Officer, very ably assisted by his Deputy, Kevin Bazeley. You can find out more about the Memorial Team here.
March has been quietly busy for the Memorial Project with the artists from Abraxas Academy being head down in final detailed plans, drawings and digital models to confirm the structural requirements of the Memorial and its base.
All the cutting plans are ready for the letter and the order for the sheet of bronze will shortly be placed with the fabricator. The final tweaks to the stone cutting plans for the base are being made so that should also be ordered shortly.
The artists from Abraxas Academy, Roly for Fighting With Pride and the groundworks contractor will shortly meet at The National Memorial Arboretum. This is for the next, small, but important step to confirm the exact location of the memorial within the plot of ground approved by the Arboretum, and how the letter will be orientated relative to the other memorials.
At this time, we still cannot confirm an exact date for the official dedication ceremony. Negotiations for VIP guests are ongoing but still on target for a date in the latter half of October. As you are aware, the intention of Lord Etherton’s recommendation is for as many veterans impacted by the ban as possible to be present at the dedication. As members of the committee formed by the Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) and MOD to organise the ceremony, we are ensuring that message remains a priority during initial planning.
As previously mentioned, there will be an opportunity for a limited number of veterans and serving personnel local to the region, to meet the artists and local media, at their studios in Kings Lynn, as part of the documentation of the project. Lord Etherton himself will be present, wanting to meet the artists and veterans to hear their opinions of what is being delivered. We expect this visit to happen late mid-May. To prepare for this we would love any of you from the East of England, preferably within the catchment of BBC Look East, to register their interest in attending by emailing [email protected]
Overall, we are progressing well and looking forward to exciting developments ahead
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