Trevor Chadwick statue to show 'Purbeck Schindler's generous nature'

It is hoped a statue of Trevor Chadwick will be placed in his hometown of Swanage in 2022

A model has been created of a statue that will honour a man who helped save hundreds of children destined for Nazi concentration camps.

Trevor Chadwick helped Sir Nicholas Winton rescue 669 children from Czechoslovakia ahead of World War Two.

It is hoped the statue will be placed in his hometown of Swanage, Dorset, in 2022.

Local artist Moira Purver said she designed the sculpture to show his "amazingly generous nature".

Dorset artist Moira Purver has modelled the statue in clay before it is cast in bronze and made "life-sized"

The Trevor Chadwick Memorial Trust is raising £80,000 for the life-sized memorial, which has been backed by Swanage Town Council.

The model, which will eventually be cast in bronze, depicts Mr Chadwick holding a child in one arm while grasping the hand of another, Mrs Purver said.

She added it aimed to express his "personality and charisma that made both children and parents able to smile and laugh despite the horrendous circumstances of their meeting".

He was "a man with an amazingly generous nature", Mrs Purver said.

Mr Chadwick helped rescue 669 children from Czechoslovakia

The statue aims to show Mr Chadwick's "amazingly generous nature"

Mr Chadwick, who died in 1979 aged 72, was dubbed the "Purbeck Schindler".

He worked with Sir Nicholas, Doreen Warriner, Nicholas Stopford, Beatrice Wellington, Josephine Pike and Bill Barazetti, to find British families willing to put up £50 to look after the children in their homes.

They organised a total of eight trains - known as Kindertransport - from Prague.

Their efforts were not publicly known for almost 50 years and have been likened to that of the "saviour" of Jewish prisoners, Oskar Schindler.

Though Sir Nicholas was knighted in March 2003 he had insisted Mr Chadwick, who stayed in Prague to organise the evacuations, had been the real hero.

There are statues of Sir Nicholas Winton at Prague (pictured) and Maidenhead railway stations

Mr Chadwick was born in Swanage but spent most of his life in Oslo, Norway, with his German wife Sigrid.

He worked at academic publisher Oslo University Press, having previously been a school teacher.

It is hoped the statue will be placed at the town's recreation ground, close to its war memorial.