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Sunday 27 Oct 2013

Network Rail unveils new King’s Cross war memorial ahead of Poppy Day 2013

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The historic war memorial at King’s Cross station has been re-designed and reinstated at a dedicated service held on Sunday 27 October at the station ahead of London Poppy Day.

Placed into temporary storage during the £550m redevelopment of King’s Cross station, which was recently completed, the newly designed memorial by Network Rail aims to echo the eleven soldiers depicted by John Singer Sargent’s well-known 1919 painting ‘Gassed’.

The new memorial pays homage to the original, setting the 11 marble tablets which list the name of the fallen inside new individual steel frames. The memorial was first erected in 1920 by the Great Northern Railway in memory of employees who fell in World War One. It was further dedicated to employees of the London and North Eastern Railway who lost their lives in World War Two.

Veteran groups and railway-employed reservists were joined by representatives from The Royal British Legion, Western Front Association, St John Ambulance and Network Rail to take part in the dedicated service at King’s Cross platform 0. It was officiated by the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, National Chaplain of the Royal British Legion, and Jeff Potter and Humphrey Gillott, Railway Mission chaplains for King’s Cross.

Speaking at the service, Robin Gisby, Network Rail managing director of network operations, said: “Today’s service is dedicated to the unveiling of the re-instated King’s Cross memorial as we look ahead to London Poppy Day, an occasion Network Rail continues to support.

“The memorial is ingrained in the heritage of King’s Cross and now the station has a new-look following its recent redevelopment, it is only fitting that the reintroduced memorial has been brought up to date to reflect its surroundings whilst staying true to its historic roots.”

The unveiling of the memorial comes just days before London Poppy Day on 7^th November. Network Rail will be showing their support this year in a variety of ways, with a giant poppy displayed on the roof funnel of the western concourse at King’s Cross station and Network Rail cars and vans in the London area featuring poppies on the front. Poppy Day exhibitions will also be in place at London Bridge, Victoria and Paddington stations, along with performances at several Network Rail managed stations by bands and choirs.

Working closely with Transport for London, the aim is to reach The Royal British Legion’s fundraising target of £37m.