Can you come up with the winning design for a new £300,000 monument to heroes of the deep? That’s the challenge laid down by the Silent Service and the firm which builds today’s submarines to youngsters across the land.
More than 300 boats have been built by shipwrights in Barrow since HMS Holland 1 was constructed in Yacht Shed No.1 of the Vickers yard at the turn of the 20th Century.
Today in the town’s modern Devonshire Dock Hall, employees of BAE Systems are working on the final three Astute-class boats – Anson, Agamemnon and Agincourt – and the first new deterrent submarine in a generation, HMS Dreadnought.
There are memorials at the RN Submarine Museum in Gosport and, most notably, on the Embankment in London, opposite Middle Temple Gardens, venue for the annual ceremony of thanksgiving exactly one week before Remembrance Sunday.
The new monument is due to be installed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
School children – especially those from submariners’ families – will be encouraged to draw up plans for the tribute and could win prizes, including £1,000 for the winning design.
The winner will also be invited to attend next year’s dedication of the memorial by Prince William, Commodore-in-Chief Submarines.
"We'd like to encourage children from across the naval service and the UK to come up with ideas to fittingly remember those who lost their lives while serving in these iconic boats," Commander Tom Herman RN, Hon Submarine Regimental Secretary, said.
“The Submarine Service is aiming to raise £300,000 and is looking across the submarine community among serving, retired and their families as well as the broader public, many of whom will have had friends or relations who have served in boats."
Details of submissions – and fundraising plans – will be revealed on February 28 when the competition is formally launched by BAE in Barrow.
