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A memorial to be proud of

THE 999 Cenotaph, a monument to Britain’s fallen emergency service workers, was planned in 2016 long before the Covid-19 pandemic. But it has now been redesigned by sculptor Philip Jackson so as remember those NHS and other health workers who have died this year.

The National Emergency Services Memorial monument, funded through charity donations, will now include a frontline hospital figure wearing a protective face-visor and scrubs.

The image above (©Tom Scholes-Fogg) shows the sculptor’s clay model from which the final bronze will be made. The extended line-up will show a male police officer; a male firefighter; a female paramedic to represent the ambulance service and other healthcare agencies such as St John Ambulance; a female doctor to represent the NHS; a male maritime worker to represent HM Coastguard and Lifeboat Services; a male search and rescue volunteer – and there’s even a spaniel search and rescue dog representing service animals.

The Queen will open the finished monument in 2023 at a central London venue yet to be announced. The bronze figures will stand eight feet tall, and the whole monument will be 20 feet high.

The National Emergency Services Memorial charity was founded by Tom Scholes-Fogg in 2016 when he realised there was no single monument for emergency service workers anywhere in this country. You can read more about it here: https://www.nesm.org.uk/