Dorset town prepares for statue to forgotten hero

The base awaits the 360kg bronze statue which will be transported from the foundry in Andover

A final push is underway to raise funds for a statue to honour the man who saved hundreds of children destined for Nazi concentration camps.

Trevor Chadwick, known as the 'Purbeck Schindler', helped Sir Nicholas Winton rescue 669 children from Czechoslovakia ahead of World War Two.

The statue will be erected in Mr Chadwick's home town of Swanage, Dorset next month.

A gala with local musicians and the town band will be held on Saturday.

The team behind the Trevor Chadwick Memorial Trust, led by John Corben, has so far raised £80,000.

"But we're still around £13,000 short and I don't want to be going down to the bank", Mr Corben said.

"We've been as careful as possible but because of Covid we haven't been able to fundraise these past two years and we're aware of the financial situation of everyone in the country at the moment", he added.

'Honour our obligation'

Mr Corben said his main aim was to pay the artist behind the work, local sculptor Moira Purver.

"We haven't paid Moira yet, we haven't been able to honour our obligation to her and she's one of the top five sculptors in the country," he said.

The 360kg bronze statue is currently at the Talos Art Foundry in Quarley, near Andover in Hampshire, waiting to be transported to Swanage where it will be erected onto a base next to the town's bandstand.

Moira Purver working on the statue to Trevor Chadwick who helped rescue 669 children ahead of WW2

Mr Chadwick, who died in 1979 aged 72, worked with Sir Nicholas, amongst others, to find British families willing to put up £50 to look after children in their homes.

Their efforts were not publicly known for almost 50 years and have been likened to that of Oskar Schindler.

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

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

The statue will be unveiled on 29 August.

Mr Chadwick helped rescue 669 children from Czechoslovakia