World-renowned Midhurst sculptor to honour emergency services with £3.2m memorial

A design showing what the final piece will look like | other

Midhurst sculptor Philip Jackson has unveiled his plans for an eight-foot-high homage to the emergency services.

The sculpture will feature figures from the fire service, police force, ambulance service, the NHS, RNLI and search and rescue.

Due to be completed in 2022, the bronze monument will honour the 7,000 front line emergency service workers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, and is set to join some of Philip's other works in central London.

It is expected too cost £3.2 million and the finished piece will be unveiled by the Queen.

A maquette showing the side of the sculpture with the NHS workers. | other

Phillip, who lives and works in Cocking, said: "For the last 18 months I have been working on the model which shows five figures which are going to be eight feet and cast in bronze on a five-sided stone base. This would be a cenotaph memorial which the emergency services could call their own. They don't have a cenotaph memorial.

"Over the years the emergency services have lost 7,000 people in the line of duty so this will remember those people and raise awareness."

The monument will be a place to hold memorials for the emergency services and for people to pay their respects, Philip said.

A late addition to the work was the figure of a nurse/ doctor, "With the onset of the pandemic and the stupendous work the NHS are doing to look after people, we decided that we should reinforce the NHS side so it was decided that there should be a nurse/ doctor," Philip added.

"I finished [the maquette] just before the pandemic started and we were at the time about to go out to fundraise money for it. But because of the pandemic that will all have to go on hold. We are now starting all again.

"We are thinking of opening the gardens for an exhibition which can be done safely with social distancing measures in place but we are talking about how we can do that."