Page 10 - BNVTA News November 2020

8
campaign Summer 2020
National Atomic Veterans Awareness Day
The 3rd of October is National Atomic Veterans Awareness Day [NAVAD]. This year we were present at the National Memorial Arboretum and now we are thinking on towards Remembrance Sunday.
Unfortunately, 2020 has seen us
all facing new challenges and restrictions. The Royal British Legion have informed the BNTVA that we are unable to attend the emembrance Parade and Memorial Garden in London.
As many of you know there are several BNTVA memorials dotted around the UK. It has come to our attention that there is an incomplete list of these memorials; most were installed by the old BNTVA branch system 20-30 years ago. These days with local lockdowns and social distancing, we lament their loss.
I grew up on the south coast; my family had some involvement with the kind folk of the southern branch after my father died (mainly with Bobbie Brewster), but, after relocating to Yorkshire, the first
time I'd found out about the West Yorkshire branch was at the laying up of the Standard in Leeds minster in 2018.
Throughout my research I’ve spoken to other descendants who hadn’t realised that there had been local branches or regional memorials,
as many of us have been brought together via Shelly’s fantastic Fallout group on Facebook over the last 8 years. So, as part of the Covid recovery, we will be looking at building some regional hubs around the local community and online. These won’t be the branches of old, but will be an opportunity for us to encourage social inclusion at a grassroots level. We would love to hear from our past branch teams
to assist with implementation.
Wesley Perriman BNTVA Curator
We have included a what3words location code to aid finding a memorial
What is what3words? “We divided the world into 3 metre squares and gave each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share exact locations.” (ref what3words.com)
By using the website or app you can input the 3-word code to get the location of the memorial. We have tried to get these as close as possible but please let us know if they are wrong so we can update our database. Also please bear in mind that some of these are inside buildings and might have restricted access.
Here is the current memorial list, if we have missed any please let us know!
1. National Memorial Arboretum BNTVA Memorial stones pg 11
2. Billingham. BNTVA plaque, Garden of Remembrance pg 14
3. Birmingham BNTVA plaque Peace Garden pg 14
4. Blackpool BNTVA plaque, Salvation Army Citadel pg 15
5. Gillingham Sapper F Furlong Plaque, St Barbara’s Garrison Church pg 15
6. Leeds BNTVA Memorial stone, Leeds Minster Churchyard pg 17
7. Leicester BNTVA plaque, Victoria Park Peace Walk pg 18
8. Liverpool BNTVA plaque, St John’s Gardens pg 18
9. Manchester BNTVA plaque, St Peters Square pg 20
10. Paisley, BNTVA Memorial Stone, Renfrewshire pg 20
11. Portsmouth BNTVA Plaque & Bench, Cathedral Grounds pg 21
12. Risca BNTVA plaque, Cenotaph Grounds pg 22
13. Spalding, BNTVA Stone, Peace Gardens pg 22
14. West Ham, BNTVA Plaque, All Saints Church pg 23
15. The Last Post and the Don Bar pg 23