Mar 04 – New Gibraltar Memorial Set For UK National Arboretum
A new Gibraltar memorial is to be erected at the National Memorial Arboretum, the United Kingdom's Centre of Remembrance.
The Arboretum is a 150 acre site in Alrewas in Staffordshire. It has 300 memorials to all branches of the armed services, civil defence, and rescue services and numerous member countries of the Commonwealth. There is a Mediterranean Section which includes memorials to servicemen lost in the North Africa Campaign, in Malta and in the Cyprus Emergency.
However, during a visit to the Arboretum by local man, Joe Brugada, he noted that, although there were memorials to other Commonwealth countries and the Falklands, there was no mention of Gibraltar.
In a project driven by Joe Brugada (far left in pic) and fully supported by HM Government of Gibraltar, a suitable memorial has now been designed by Anselmo Torres (far right in pic). The memorial will be cut from a single piece of limestone from the Rock by two stonemasons who are currently on the Rock. The 5-tonne piece of rock will be flown to RAF Brize Norton and then on to Norfolk where it will be carved into its final shape.
It is expected that the Gibraltar Memorial will be unveiled later this year.
