First statue of Midhurst sculptor's 999 cenotaph is unveiled

Created by Cocking-based sculptor Philip Jackson the work will feature figures from the fire service, police force, ambulance service, the NHS, RNLI and search and rescue.

The bronze monument will honour the 7,000 frontline emergency service workers who lost their lives in the line of duty and is set to join some of Mr Jackson’s other works in central London.

He said: “It is all really in aid of fundraising. It is the first figure of six so now Covid is hopefully on the way out we are back to a fundraising drive.”

Mr Jackson said the response to the first statue has been ‘very good’ and recalled the moment the subject of his first model unveiled it at his studio in Cocking.

“A nurse who has been in the NHS for 50 years contracted Covid right at the beginning,” he added. “There was a big event when she recovered and she came down and effectively unveiled the first statue.

“She was very emotional about it. She said that she could see the compassion in the eyes and that it was exactly how she had imagined.”

Tom Scholes-Fogg is a police officer who founded the 999 Cenotaph charity to honour the work of emergency services.