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.
Our memorial continues to progress on schedule and on budget and the highlight of the month was when we were able to visit the forge at Holkham Estate where Abraxas Academy are busy working the metal for the memorial. The plates of bronze arrived at the end of April having had the letters laser cut and James is busy finishing and polishing the metal to get ready for the next stage of folding and welding.
We are looking forward to the 24th of June when a group of veterans and serving personnel will meet at the Forge to meet the designers, connect with the memorial in build and be filmed as part of the ongoing process of documenting the memorial progress in advance of its eventual dedication. If you live in the East of England and would like to attend, then please drop an email to [email protected]
Work with MOD and the OVA continues to plan the dedication ceremony at the back end of this year. Unfortunately, we still can’t confirm a date for this event, but we hope to have news soon. The important thing is that the MOD/OVA agree that the focus of the event needs to be on the veterans and serving members of the LGBT+ armed forces community and every effort will be made to maximise their attendance.
We can’t have an update on the memorial without mentioning the sad death of Lord Etherton. Lord Etherton’s recommendations were obviously the driving force behind gaining the funding for the memorial and it was a project that he felt passionately about and followed our updates. He had very much wanted to be involved at the meeting on the 24th of June and to be present for the dedication. Obviously, this cannot now happen, but we are already discussing with MOD/OVA how to recognise Lord Etherton as part of that dedication ceremony.
To end this update on a positive note we would like to share some images from our recent visit where we were able to see and touch the bronze of our memorial and get a feel for the final size. Not going to give too much away here but it is truly going to be a stunning piece and will stand out at the National Memorial Arboretum.
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