The First World War centenary falls a year from today, on 4th August 2014, and will be a significant point of remembrance for millions of people around the world.
To mark this centenary the Step Short project in Folkestone, of which I have been Chairman for the last six years, has commissioned a memorial arch which will stand overlooking the English Channel and the French coast beyond. The Arch will stand over the route taken by the soldiers marching to Folkestone harbour and the ships waiting to take them to France. 10 million servicemen made their journey through Folkestone during the war, making it the major port of embarkation to and from the trenches of the western front.
Today we are announcing that we have the funding in place to start building work on the arch this autumn. Admiral the Lord Boyce, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports will this morning cut the first square of turf to mark the start of the construction of the Arch.
The Arch will be completed in early summer 2014, in time for the centenary of the outbreak of the war. We are grateful to Shepway District Council and Kent County Council who have made significant contributions to the building costs for the Arch, along with the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation, and the Never Such Innocence organisation. We are also delighted that Lend Lease, the international commercial property is giving members of its team to work for free to deliver the project and construction management for the building of the Arch. They will take responsibility for the appointment of contractors to build the arch and making sure the project it delivered on time.
The new arch will act to remind the people of Folkestone and visitors to the town, of the sacrifices made in defence of freedom one hundred years before. I hope that people will come and visit the arch and follow the footsteps their ancestors would have taken down the Road of Remembrance.