'Significant' Royal Navy memorial to be unveiled

The plans for a permanent Royal Navy memorial in Cleethorpes have been "20 years in the making"

Veterans are to unveil a memorial to those who served in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Commandos.

Members of the Cleethorpes Royal Navy Club first mooted the idea of a permanent tribute about 20 years ago but the idea finally got off the ground in the last few years.

Committee member Nigel Smith, 60, who served on HMS Antrim, a County Class destroyer during the 1982 Falklands conflict, said the memorial "means everything".

It will be unveiled at 10:15 GMT on 2 November in Cleethorpes Pier Gardens.

The memorial features a Royal Marine, a Royal Navy sailor and a Navy Wren.

Mr Smith, who served from 1980 to 1985, said: "I've consumed myself with this project for the last year or so, and it's so important it will be in Cleethorpes. It is significant.

"It's going to sit there forever, and it will be a place for people to pay respects and to come and remember people in whichever way they choose."

Thousands flock to Cleethorpes' Armed Forces Weekend each year, with Mr Smith stating about a dozen of his former comrades attending from around the country.

He said: "We have so much togetherness. We all went to the Falklands as boys and all came home together, so we have an amazing bond."

Aged 17, Nigel Smith was one of the youngest servicemen to serve in the Falklands conflict

The memorial project was instigated by club member Shaun Lee, who survived the sinking of HMS Sheffield during the Falklands conflict.

Mr Smith took over the management of the project about a year ago.

Working with Grimsby engineering firm Blackrow Group, the club finalised the design then began fundraising to make the memorial a reality.

Mr Smith said the £13,000 needed for the memorial was raised through public donations.

He said he was encouraged by the reaction from local people to the memorial plans.

"They told me there was nothing like it in Cleethorpes," said Mr Smith.

Brad Francis and wife Julie, pictured left, on his return from the Falklands conflict in 1982, and now

Mr Smith's brother-in-law and fellow Falklands veteran, Brad Francis, 61, who lives in Humberston, said he was also "really looking forward" to the unveiling of the statue.

He said: "In 1982, us boys travelled 8,000 miles in Force 10, dodging missiles, so it's great that there's going to be something there for us.

"This memorial solidifies the fact we've been recognised."

Mr Francis told how he met his wife of 42 years, Julie, who was attending a dance as part of her brother's passing out celebrations in 1980.

The unveiling event will also be attended by Peter Robinson, a former Royal Marines corporal who was immortalised in a photograph, taken during the Falklands conflict, showing him marching with the union flag flying from his radio pack's antenna.

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