At the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel Le Ferne, Kent, UK, a significant feature is the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall, named in tribute to the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a Hurricane fighter pilot in 1940. He was the first President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and, together with Lady Foxley-Norris, provided the funds to allow the wall to go ahead.
The beautiful display of ACM Sir Keith Park’s medals, which was commissioned for the Thames Battle of Britain Commemorations (including the inauguration and unveiling of the Memorial in his honour) 14th September 2025, has been passed to the Thames Museum on loan.
Planning is underway, with the support of Chris Fraser of Peninsular Memorials, to erect a complementary memorial for the New Zealand Airmen recognised as being of “The Few” for being part of the Battle of Britain. An early concept visualisation is shown overleaf.
The Battle of Britain Commemorations and the Inauguration of the Memorial to Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park went off very well on Sunday 14th September, despite a bitterly cold westerly wind. Through the efforts of William Earl (a member of SKPMA Inc.), we managed to get excellent coverage on TV1 News that same evening. This was followed by equally great coverage in The Mercury Bay Informer and Valley Profile newspapers.
The statue of ACM Sir Keith Park has now been installed at its permanent site, under the Stage 1 Hurricane Fighter at the Thames Airfield!!
The statue of ACM Sir Keith Park, which will complete the Memorial in his honour at the Thames Airfield, has been on temporary display at the Officers’/Northern Club in the Auckland (March – late-May), then at the Vero Centre (late May – early August).
KEITH PARK BRONZE STATUE - UPDATE: The statue of ACM Sir Keith Park, which will complete the Memorial in his honour at the Thames Airfield, is presently on temporary display at the Officers’/Northern Club in the Auckland CBD.
The statue has been completed and arrives Auckland from the foundry in China. As I do not want to install the statue at the Memorial at the Thames Airfield until immediately before the Sunday 14th Battle of Britain commemorations, I – with the fantastic support of Fraser Boddy and Barry Dreyer, have arranged to have it displayed in Auckland in the intervening period. From about the second week in March, the statue will be on display at the Officers’/Northern Club on the outside deck, adjacent to Bankside for about three months.
The statue has been completed as the photos below show. The statue is now being packaged and crated for shipment to Auckland, where is scheduled to arrive late January/early February 2025.
The plan is for the statue to be erected and inaugurated at the Thames Battle of Britain Commemorations, September 2025. I am exploring options to display the statue at a temporary site in Thames through the period February to August, rather than have him/it languishing in the box for that time!
