CHAUCERY MEMORIAL PAINTING

'Victory Dawn' 'VICTORY DAWN'
By John Higgins
© Loco Motive Studios 2011

'Midst troubled years and lifetimes
With many felled to mourn
Our spirits soar through darkened skies
Toward the victory dawn'

Title and dedication by Sally Hurst, Jan 2011

(Click image to enlarge)

 

John Higgins has painted a picture of Night Fighter Mosquito MK NFX111, MM 550, on canvas (80cmx60cm) in acrylic paint to raise money for the development and upkeep of the Chaucery Memorial, Rustington, West Sussex.

The painting will be going for auction locally at a fund-raising event on the 19th of Feb, 2011.

Any bids before this date for this painting would be most welcome.

The highest pre-auction bid so far is £100.

The money would be used to maintain the memorial in remembrance of all who died in WW2 but specifically for this incident when a small rural village experienced the impact of war at first hand.

 



Photos of Memorial at Rustington, West Sussex, © Richard E. Flagg

 

'Wartime Crash Remembered', from Britain at War Magazine:

February 17th 1945.

I was almost 15 when I went out cycling with my cousin John, as we often did, on a Saturday morning. We were in Holmes Lane Rustington, when we saw a troop of soldiers on a route march, so we cycled behind them.

Suddenly we heard the strange noise of an aeroplane in trouble, it was really making such a noise, banging, crackling and popping, John said "That plane is going to crash," and then for a split second we saw it. Very low and going so fast, & then a very loud bang. The soldiers set off at the double and we followed them. We saw a group of bungalows in ruins and on fire; the noise was amazing with the sound of canon shells exploding etc. One of the soldiers turned around to us and said "You two had better get off home, no place for you here," which of course we did, scared stiff and so frightened.

Now here almost 65 years later, I realised that nothing had ever been done about this tragic event, which killed 5 people including the two air crew. Two people, a mother and her 3 month old baby Angela, were miraculously saved from one of the demolished houses, injured and burnt; they were taken to the Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead, the Burns Unit.

In order to achieve erecting the memorial plaque on the 65th Anniversary February 17th 2010 at 12 noon (approx time of the crash) an appeal has been launched for grants and donations.

Mary Taylor, 2009