Admiral The Lord Boyce, The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports has commanded many mightier weapons than the spade I presented to him on Sunday, but nevertheless I was pleased to see him put it to good use. Just after 11am on 4th August, the 99th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, I invited him to lift the first square of turf to mark the start of the construction of the Folkestone Memorial Arch.
The Arch will stand at the eastern end of The Leas close to the war memorial and the top of the Road of Remembrance. The Arch stands over the route taken by the soldiers marching to the harbour and the ships that were waiting to take them to France and the trenches of the western front.
In the 1930s a temporary arch was built over the Road of Remembrance for the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of King George V and then the Coronation of King George VI. That Arch bore the simple message, 'In our rejoicing, we still remember them'. Our new memorial arch, which will be completed by next summer in time for the commemorations of the centenary of the outbreak of the war, shows that we remember them still. The Arch represents the sacrifices of the ten million soldiers who came through Folkestone during the war; those who returned, and those who did not. It also marks the contributions of everyone who supported the war effort, and home and on the battlegrounds.
The Arch has been one of the major projects take forward by Step Short, the Folkestone heritage charity focused on the role played by the town during the First World War. As the Chairman of Step Short for the last six years, it gave me particular pleasure to see Lord Boyce formally start the construction of the Arch. Many thousands of hours of time has been freely given by the Directors and supporters of Step Short so far. I would particularly like to thank the Vice Chair, Cllr Ann Berry, Paul Emden, Michael George, Eammon Rooney, and Geoff Tolson.
The Arch was designed by local architect, Philip Gearing and has been made possible by a fundraising campaign which has been generously supported by Shepway District Council, Kent County Council, the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and the commercial property company Lend Lease. Lend Lease have made a significant contribution to the costs of the arch by donating members of their team who will manage the delivery of the Arch, including the appointment and oversight of the contractors who will build it. We have also received significant contributions from the Radnor Estate, the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation and EDF energy. Step Short will also be one of the beneficiaries of the major memorial concerts being organised for next year in London by the Never Such Innocence organisation. You can find out more about this at their website www.neversuchinnocence.com.
The construction work on the Folkestone Memorial Arch will start in the early autumn, and you can keep up to date with it, and the other events being planned to mark the First World War centenary at our website, www.stepshort.co.uk.