Ex-Tory chief’s cash boost for 999 memorial
LORD Ashcroft made a “significant donation” yesterday so a vital 999 memorial can be built to honour the service and sacrifice of emergency workers.
The businessman and philanthropist is the first heavyweight financial backer of plans for a British National Emergency Services Memorial, a campaign supported by the Daily Express.
A £3.2million appeal has been launched to ensure the monument is erected by 2023 and unveiled by the Queen.
Weighing in with a huge cheque to kickstart the fund, Lord Ashcroft said: “It is vital the outstanding bravery and devotion to duty of our emergency service workers are recognised in an appropriate and enduring way. This splendid monument will act as a fitting memorial to their self-sacrifice.”
The former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party has the largest collection of Victoria
Cross medals in the world. He added: “Just as we rightly remember our war dead, we should honour these key workers with equal amounts of gratitude and respect.
“Those who have died have shown true courage because they were aware of the dangers they faced yet they have confronted those perils head on.
“The men and women who have perished in the course of their work are true heroes and they must never be forgotten.”
Lord Ashcroft, who also writes exclusively for the Daily Express below, added: “The response of our 999 staff and other key workers has been nothing short of remarkable and so, we as a nation, need to find an equally noteworthy way of rewarding their courage and their valiant efforts.”
Immortalised in bronze by sculptor Philip Jackson, the five-sided 20ft monument in central London will pay lasting tribute to more than 7,000 who have been killed in the line of duty in the past 250 years.
It features six figures and a dog, representing each of the emergency services. They are dressed in the uniforms they would wear responding to 999 calls. The Daily Express is the proud official newspaper of the memorial.
Founder Thomas ScholesFogg, a Met Police Special Sergeant, said: “This monument will be a national symbol of gratitude, sacrifice and remembrance. This is about honouring selfless public duty.
“Our emergency services put duty to others before everything else and it is right we partner
should have a focal point to honour them all.” ●●How to donate: Send a cheque made payable to the National Emergency Services Memorial to 999 Memorial UK, PO Box 2428, Wrexham, Wales, LL11 0PW. Online: www.NESM.org.uk/donate Via the Charities Aid Foundation: https://cafdonate. cafonline.org/9636