On Thursday 7th March I collected Lady Amess and we drove to view the statue of Sir David at the Milwyn Castings foundry in West Molesey.
The Amess family chose the talented British sculptor Andrew Lilley to make the statue in June 2023. In a heartwarming gesture, Mr Lilley made the decision to start the sculpture before any funds had been secured because he believed it was a worthy cause and a fitting memorial to Sir David who was murdered by an Islamic extremist in October 2021 while holding his weekly surgery.
The finished statue was made possible due to my fundraising efforts and the deep generosity of Dr Vijay Patel OBE, a businessman from Basildon who knew Sir David when he was MP there before he came to Southend West.
We are planning to unveil the sculpture in Southend at a ceremony planned for mid-April 2024. I'll post more details here when we have firmed up the plans for the unveiling.
