Engineering staff and students at North Lindsey College have designed, created and presented a special memorial to pay tribute to the aircrew who lost their lives in Haxey during the Second World War.
In 1942, RAF Sandtoft – just north of Haxey – was one of many airfields in the Isle of Axholme to be established as a bomber aircraft training station. During WW2, a significant number of aircraft crashes occurred in the surrounding areas, resulting in substantial fatalities and injuries to aircrew.
It was decided by Haxey Parish Council that there would be community interest in recognising the ultimate cost paid by aircrews whose young lives ended – but had no memorial where they died.
READ MORE:
With that in mind, the Parish Council decided to provide a memorial to recognise those that lost their lives.
Although severely delayed, work on the memorial continued throughout the pandemic, with staff and students from North Lindsey College asked to come up with a suitable memorial design in steel, for students to fabricate at a future date.
(Image: North Lindsey College)
The memorial design was approved by the Parish Council in 2020, manufactured in 2021 and transported to Haxey Parish in April 2022. Not only did the college provide the design and fabrication of the Memorial, but it also shared the cost of the materials with the Council.
Phil Scott, Learning Facilitator at North Lindsey College, said: “This project was one of the best I’ve been involved with, and it was a privilege to be part of it. To see the students working on the project with so much enthusiasm made it worthwhile. On the day it was unveiled at Haxey, after two-and-a-half-years due to the pandemic, was a great and a proud day for me, the students and North Lindsey College.”
The stunning memorial was unveiled by the sister and relatives of the Navigator of Halifax EB184, Flight Sergeant A Fox. Official representatives from the RAF, Australian Armed services and the Polish Bomber Association also laid wreaths at the site.
(Image: North Lindsey College)
Councillor David Knowles, Chairman of the Military Memorial Working Group of Haxey Parish Council, said: “Haxey Parish Council is extremely grateful for the efforts of all the staff and students at North Lindsey which culminated in the recent Dedication Service of the Halifax Memorial held at Haxey Pinfold.
“The project has been a long journey since our initial meetings in 2019 and the subsequent intervention of the pandemic; however, the partnership with the College and the design and fabrication of the Halifax Memorial has proved to be a highly appropriate commemoration of the sacrifice of the 21 multinational aircrew who lost their lives in the Parish all those years ago.
“The community of Haxey Parish are proud of their new memorial which will go some way to ensuring that the ultimate sacrifice of the three Halifax crews will not be forgotten.”
The dedication service was attended by more than 150 people including C of E Methodist and Roman Catholic Clergy, staff and pupils from local schools, staff and students of North Lindsey College, the International Bomber Command Association, the Polish Bomber Squadron Heritage Centre, the Royal British Legion, representatives from North Lincolnshire Council and Neighbouring Town and Parish Councils, members of Local Air Training Corps Units, Haxey Parish residents and Parish Council members past and present.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
