Cyprus Rock Memorial

for the National Memorial Arboretum

By Margaret Sheard…..

We have been following the progress of the Cyprus Rock with great interest and have received many messages of support for the project which has been undertaken by David Littlemore and also funds which have been donated in the gofundme account which we “persuaded” David to set up.   Details of this are shown at the end of this article.

We have received the following update from David on progress to date and it seems everything is going well with a provisional unveiling date of 20^th/21^st August at the National Memorial Arboretum. This will be confirmed nearer the proposed date in another follow-up article.

This is David’s update on the progress which has been made for this wonderful memorial to those who lost their lives in Cyprus 1955 to 1959.

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Dear Supporter,

It has been a little while since my last “update” and things are now moving quite rapidly. As you will recall the Cypriot Rock, so generously transported to the UK by the RAF, was due to arrive here at the end of February. I had thought it would be flown by air but as the rock is over 4 tons in weight air transport would have proved to be more of a problem needing a special packing crate making. The RAF would have done that had there been any urgency for delivery but as there was not it travelled by sea to the UK.

The rock is now ready to be delivered to the stonemason’s yard which our wonderful RAF colleagues have agreed to do. The stonemason Keith, who made the main memorial at Kyrenia, will prepare the rock by placing the time capsule containing the Memorial Roll of Honour inside it, with the plaque (see attached photo) placed over it. Keith will also be making the base for the rock at the National Memorial Arboretum and he will engrave the ‘cap badges’ of the 46 regiments and service units involved in the Cyprus Emergency on the stone base (see attached plan). I would like to express my sincere thanks to Keith for his offer to do all of this work for us at cost only.

Speaking of ‘thanks’, again my thanks must go to the RAF who have also agreed to transport our rock from the stonemason’s yard in Norfolk to it’s final resting place at the Arboretum in Staffordshire and to place it on the base prepared by Keith. The plan is to hold the Official Unveiling of the Memorial on the weekend of the 20/21 of August. My thanks to Sir Michael Graydon, ex Air Chief Marshal, for agreeing to perform the unveiling for us.

I will be writing to all 46 Regimental Associations to inform them and ask for their approval to have cap badges engraved on the base of the memorial. I will also ask for a donation towards the cost of the work.

‘Cyprusscene’ the web based news agency in North Cyprus has demonstrated a high degree of interest in the memorial and their reporter Margaret has written a number of excellent articles about its progress. She also introduced me to a fund raising web site called ‘gofundme’ which has resulted in the project receiving more than £1500 and still coming in. Unfortunately the organisation takes a cut of 5% but it is funding that we would not otherwise have received.  We still need to raise more funds as the project has developed and expanded with the increased interest.  

With thanks for your support, David Littlemore.

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Thank you to the people who have used the gofundme account to make a donation and if there are others who may like to do the same the account can be accessed by clicking here.