National Monument to the Women of World War II
I found myself strolling up Whitehall on Saturday, and couldn’t help but admire the National Monument to the Women of World War II. I don’t recall noticing it before – mind you, you could probably count the number of times I’ve walked along Whitehall since its dedication in 2005 on the fingers of a hand that’s been involved in a horrible farm machinery accident. (One thing I will say in favour of illegal and immoral wars – the protest marches provide one with a great opportunity to take in London’s streets and architecture, in between shuffling along, shouting “Down with this sort of thing!”).
Anyway, the monument is a 22 feet high, 16 feet long bronze sculpture, designed to commemorate the role women played during the Second World War. 17 individual sets of clothing and uniforms – including those of farm and factory workers, the armed forces, hospital staff and the emergency services – ‘hanging up’ around the sides represent the hundreds of different jobs women undertook in the war and later gave back for the homecoming men. It struck me as a wonderfully effective bit of work and a great tribute.
The monument was created by sculptor John W Mills, whose other work includes the National Firefighters Memorial, and several anniversary coins for the Royal Mint.
Hi
I just wanted to let you know about a new TV show I’m working on. It’s called ‘Dunkirk: The Forgotten Heroes’ showing on the ‘Yesterday’ channel on 28th May. This moving documentary is the second in a six-part season of programmes that Yesterday are showing around ‘The Spirit of 1940.’
Please let me know if you are interested and I can send you more info, images and some clips.
Thanks
Bex