Oakham Town Council says they want a say on the location of a proposed RAF memorial bench
It's before helping to fund the project
Oakham Town Council has decided that it would like a say on the location of a proposed RAF memorial bench before helping to fund the project.
The council agreed that it would be willing to pay £500 towards the bench, so long as the project’s team can show it has “done the work” of planning and obtaining the correct licensing, but confirmed it would like some input on where it is located.
“I think it is a reasonable request that we’re consulted on the location,” Coun Ben Callaghan (South Ward) said at an Oakham Town Council meeting on Wednesday (June 17). “If it is in Oakham then it is in our town and I think we should have some sort of involvement in the location.”
“I would like to see it at the market place, after standing there hearing all the tourists say that there’s nowhere to sit in the market place,” Oakham mayor Martin Brookes (South Ward) added.
“But then someone else might say the castle.”
Veterans Barry Swallow and Ian Reynolds are leading the project’s fundraising campaign, citing inadequate memorialisation in Rutland for the “RAF Servicemen and women from Rutland who have served in conflicts around the world” as the reason.
“It’s just a case of satisfying everybody with an appropriate location,” Barry said about the project after the meeting. “Nothing is set in concrete yet.”
The memorial bench is expected to cost up to £2,200, of which more than £1,400 has been raised on a GoFundMe page. Local officials including the Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, Dr Sarah Furness and the High Sheriff of Rutland Susannah Fish have also expressed their support.