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News Items (2004) November 9, 2004  SCOTS STONE USED TO REMEMBER 9/11 A New York-based sculptor is using Scottish stone to build a memorial to Britons killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Simon Verity is working on his creation in a cottage in John O'Groats, where he is cutting and engraving stone slabs. The paving stones will form the pathway at the British Memorial Garden in New York's Hannover Square, in tribute to the 67 Britons who died in 2001. Mr Verity is using Caithness flagstones and Moray sandstone in his work. The sandstone will be engraved with the names of UK counties and then laid out in the shape of the British coastline. Mr Verity said: "The Caithness flagstones are making up the blocks of the paving of the park, then there are ribbons of pale Moray stone and it is engraved. There will be Moray stone county lettering in between the pieces of Caithness sandstone. The engraving varies in style so that each county will have a style that is independent." There are 200 pieces, which together weigh about 2000 tons and the artist hopes to be able to complete his creation by Christmas. He added: "People are interested and are fully engaged in the work I am doing. I hope to come back and visit in the spring." Mr Verity is one of the UK's most celebrated artists. Much of his work has been garden sculpture such as the seated nude for the National Trust at Kiftsgate, Warwickshire, and the Fountain at Barnsley House. November 8, 2004  HOW TO PAVE FROM CAITHNESS TO NYC David Ross, Highland Correspondent A fisherman's cottage near John o' Groats has become the base for one of Britain's most celebrated sculptors as he works on one of his most important commissions. Simon Verity is using Scottish stone to create part of the New York memorial to the 67 British victims of the September 11 attacks. His work already can be seen at Wells Cathedral, Exeter Cathedral and the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He also has works in the private collections of the Prince of Wales, Sir Elton John, and Lord Rothschild. Verity has a home in New York. In March, the British Memorial Garden Trust received final approval from the City of New York and the Arts Commission for the creation of a memorial in the garden in the city's Hanover Square. Anish Kapoor, the British artist, won the competition to create a sculpture to Unity that will anchor the park. Verity's role is to prepare a pathway of grey Caithness flagstone and a lighter sandstone from Moray. He has the stone cut with high-powered water jets at the Norfrost refrigerator factory in Castletown, near Wick. The sandstone is then cut to fit between the flagstone ribbons and Verity engraves them with the name of a British county. Two hundred and forty stones will be used to cover 95 counties. When they finally reach New York, the stones are to be laid to represent an outline of the British coastline. British dependent territories such as the Virgin and South Sandwich Islands will be engraved on smaller stones cut as commas, while the shields of the 42 British societies in New York will adorn iron bollards at the end of the garden. The burghs of London will be remembered in a bench area. The park has been designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, old friends of Verity. Verity said: "I have known them for 25 years. Julian's family was from Caithness. It was his idea to come up with what he called 'the poem of the counties'. It is a sweet concept. But it is the counties as they were before 1974. "The project appealed to me. I am very interested in paving. I spent a lot of time working in Rome where there is a lot of beautiful old paving. We are all linked by what we walk on. If you were an emperor you still had people carrying you on these stones. So the wearing of the stones actually marks our passage through life, part of our story which is very moving." He is in the far north to be close to Caithness Stone Industries' source of flagstone at Spittal, and Moray Stone Cutters in Elgin. Verity started on the edge of Wales, has worked his way round the south coast of England and has just finished Leicestershire. "Now I am on Derbyshire and when I am working on the lettering I am thinking about the beautiful houses I know there. "The likes of Hertfordshire I don't know well, but I am thinking of the Marquis of Hertford and his wonderful art collection, all these beautiful romantic paintings by Watteau and Fragonard. So I want to learn about places like Ross-shire so I can build in some feeling." Some geographic licence is required to fit them all in. Nairn, for example, will be on the north-west coast of this map of Britain, somewhere about Gairloch. He often goes down to sit at the harbour at Castletown where, in the nineteenth century, ships carrying the Caithness stone would leave for places such as New York. He says it adds another layer of meaning to his work. He believes he will be finished in Caithness before Christmas, but thinks he will return to the area at some time. He said: "I had never been north of Edinburgh, but I think this is beautiful. It is less theatrical than other parts of the Highlands, but the glaciers have shaped out these gentle shapes and rocks. And the people are marvellous." November 8, 2004  NEW HOME FOR STATUE OF NEW YORK CITY’S FIRST MAYOR, ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER  On Friday, October 30, 2004, at 9 a.m., the statue of Abraham De Peyster, the first mayor of New Amsterdam, was removed from Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan. The statue of De Peyster will first go to Randall’s Island for conservation and refurbishment and then to a new home in City Hall Park. This impressive bronze portrait statue, created by American sculptor George Edwin Bissell (1839-1920), depicts Mayor Abraham De Peyster (1657–1728). Born in New Amsterdam (now known as "Manhattan"), De Peyster came from a prosperous mercantile family. In his youth he spent nine years working on the family farm in the Netherlands, before returning in 1684 to New Amsterdam. He quickly ascended the City’s political ladder, occupying almost all of the important colonial offices, including alderman, mayor, member of the king’s council, and acting governor. De Peyster amassed great wealth, and by the end of his life he is said to have been one of the city’s richest merchants. The bronze statue was created by American sculptor George Edwin Bissell. Originally, the sculpture was placed in Bowling Green Park in 1898. It was relocated to Hanover Square in 1976. Its relocation makes way for a monumental granite sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor, dedicated to the unity between the United States and the United Kingdom, that will be the centerpiece of the British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square. "De Peyster, a former Mayor, will be back at the seat of government," said Manhattan Parks Borough Commissioner William Castro. "That makes the move the longest comeback on record. "The British Memorial Garden Trust is building a very British garden to commemorate the British victims of the World Trade Center attacks and to celebrate the historic links between the two countries. The garden is being designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, noted British landscape architects, with local support from Matthews Nielsen. The project is being overseen by John Kinnear, AIA, in conjunction with the British Memorial Garden Trust. All of the stone and iron work in the topiary garden is coming from Great Britain, representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Construction at the site will begin in the spring of 2005. September, 2004 CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE BRITISH MEMORIAL GARDEN  Construction on the British Memorial Garden began in June in Caithness, Scotland, where Simon Verity is carving the paving stones into a map of the United Kingdom. September, 2004  NYC-LONDON GATEWAY A unique venture is now underway in New York: the creation of a British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square. The British community in New York together with their Anglo-American friends are being drawn together to establish a British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square, historic home of India House and the first Cotton Exchange. The Garden is intended both as a living memorial and as a place of solitude, comfort and reflection; a truly British garden drawing from the many wonderful elements of the historic gardens of Britain.It will be a gift to the people of New York, a place for the community to enjoy and experience the historic friendship linking the two nations. The Garden will also offer a place for the British community to hold annual Remembrance Day observances and reflect upon recent events and shared tragedies. The British Memorial Garden will be designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman and is their first major American commission, Their design is reminiscent of the classic British flower garden, featuring yew hedges, topiaries and formal flowerbeds. The garden, a gift from the British Community in New York to the people of New York City, represents their continuing commitment to New York, will contribute to the revitalization of the Wall Street area and act as a place of remembrance and contemplation. The British Memorial Garden was launched in April in the presence of Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. She presented the City of New York with a collection of heirloom seeds from Hampton Court Palace in Great Britain, including marigolds featured in Henry VIII’s garden in the 16th century as well as William III’s Privy Garden during the 17th century. The Sister City Program of the City of New York, Inc. promotes international understanding through business, security and cultural exchanges between the City of New York and selected cities throughout the world. As one of the world’s leading urban centers and the world’s largest United Nations and consular communities, New York City has enjoyed successful Sister City relationships since 1960. Today, New York City maintains effective and sustainable partnerships with 10 sister cities: Beijing, Budapest, Cairo, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Rome, Santo Domingo, and Tokyo. September 8, 2004  APPEAL FOR 9/11 BRITISH MEMORIAL LAUNCHED By Amy Caulfield, PA News An appeal to raise £1 million for a garden to commemorate Britons who died in the September 11 terrorist atrocity was launched today. The British Memorial Garden is billed as a unique and permanent memorial in New York to the 67 British victims of the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. It will be a focal point of remembrance for the British community, commemorating Britons who died in both World Wars as well as those who perished in the 2001 attack. The appeal for money – which has already raised £100,000 in the UK – was launched by Tory MP David Tredinnick, co-chairman of British Memorial Garden Trust UK Ltd, just days before the third anniversary. He said: “I think it’s very poignant that we’re making this appeal now, at a time when terrorism has come back in our faces with this terrible tragedy in Beslan in Russia.” He added: “It’s very important we remember our own dead in some way and this garden is going to make a significant contribution to easing the pain and giving British people in New York somewhere to go where they can hold their own occasions.” Mr Tredinnick said the families of the British victims were in full support of the garden. “I think it is hard to imagine the trauma of losing someone in those circumstances but this, in some small way, will hopefully go towards reducing the effects. It is a place where they can go and reflect, and I think it also has a healing impact in that it enables people to release the trauma,” he said. The garden is being built in Hanover Square, one of the most historic in Manhattan and three blocks from the site of Ground Zero. It will be a place of reflection and recreation and will incorporate different elements of gardens across the UK. Camilla Hellman, president of the British Memorial Garden Trust in the US, said: “I thought we should make a wonderful British garden so the families, when they visit New York, can come to Ground Zero and feel this wonderful sense of renewal and safety.” Between April and July, more than 200 MPs signed a Parliamentary Motion in support of the charity and its objectives. This new appeal will specifically target city companies and foundations but individuals are also being invited to make donations. September 3, 2004  WHAT HAVE ARTISTS WROUGHT FROM 9/11? Extract from an article in USA Today Abstract art Public distaste for abstract art is not new, but the desire for literal representations seemed to intensify for Sept. 11-related artworks. Still, some abstract works have gained notice. In Hanover Square near Ground Zero, British expatriates in New York plan to build a memorial garden to honor the 67 British nationals who died on Sept. 11. The centerpiece will be Unity, a large black-granite monolith that will contain a carved-out inner chamber polished to reflect light so that it appears to hold an eternal flame. The piece is by British sculptor Anish Kapoor, an acclaimed artist whose only other work in the USA is Cloud Gate, a monumental abstract sculpture of stainless steel in Chicago's new Millennium Park that has been dubbed the "Jelly Bean." "We wanted the (British) park to be about renewal and strengthening," says Camilla Hellman, a British New Yorker who conceived the park. North Carolina sculptor Jim Gallucci has made a 23-foot-high abstract sculpture out of some of the 16 tons of World Trade Center steel beams that he hauled down to his studio in Greensboro soon after Sept. 11. Gallucci would dearly love to donate Gates of Sorrow to New York if only someone would take it. So far, the city isn't interested. "The gate is a symbol of the end of our innocence, the day when the door opened to what the world is about, when we learned how vulnerable we are," says Gallucci. August 17, 2004  SEPT 11 BRITS REMEMBERED  The 67 Britons who died in the September 11 terror strikes will be commemorated during the attack's third anniversary by an honour guard of police officers and choir music, it has been announced. Each victim will be represented by a British police officer at the British Memorial Garden in Manhattan. The site is near to where the World Trade Centre towers collapsed. The North American Welsh Choir will pay a choral tribute to the 67 dead in a ceremony at the garden. The plans for the third anniversary of the terror outrage were announced by the British Memorial Garden Trust. The organisation was set up in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks to commemorate the British dead. The parents and grandparents of all 2,749 people killed in the World Trade Centre attack will read the names of the victims during the ceremony. The event at ground zero will begin just before 8.46am - the time the first tower was hit and bells across New York will toll. August 9, 2004  BRITISH INDIAN'S ODE TO UK VICTIMS OF 9/11 In a corner of Manhattan that will soon be forever England - to paraphrase Rupert Brook, the World War 1 poet, work is beginning on a memorial garden for the British victims of 9/11. At the centrepiece of the garden will be a sculpture created by Anish Kapoor, the Mumbai born artist who moved from India to Britain in the 1970s. Kapoor, 50, awarded the CBE last year, and winner of the prestigious Turner Art Prize a decade or so ago, was up against the cream of Britain's sculptors in the competition to design the memorial. To win, he had to fight off strong submissions from the likes of Sir Anthony Caro, Antony Gormley (he of Angel of the North fame), and Richard Dean. The memorial will be in the shape of a 20 foot monolith and Kapoor has already sourced a 60 ton chunk of black granite in Zimbabwe from which the piece will be carved. The great block of stone is being shipped to Tuscany, in Italy, where Kapoor will realise his vision. He intends to hollow out the centre of the granite and so create an inner chamber. That chamber will be so highly polished that, as Kapoor says, "the stone will appear to create within itself a reflection akin to an eternal flame." He went on to say that : " The chamber will reflect light so as to form a column which will hover, ghost - like, in the void of the stone". The memorial garden itself was the idea of a British born business woman who now lives in New York, Camilla Hellman. As soon as she saw the possible location for the garden, a square close to Wall Street, she felt it would be a fitting place to honour the British dead. "I knew as soon as I walked into the square that it was right, it felt like an English square" she was quoted as saying. More Britons were killed on that awful day than people of any other nationality, except of course for Americans. So, it is fitting that such an idea as the memorial garden should, with the help of The New York Parks Department who gave nearly an acre of the city's real estate for the project, come to fruition. And Anish Kapoor's monolith should be an awe inspiring and fitting tribute to victims of terror. July 4, 2004  NEW YORK MEMORIAL FOR 9/11 BRITONS By Maurice Chittenden, London Sunday Times It is a corner of Manhattan that, to borrow Rupert Brooke’s words, will be for ever England. Work will start next month on a £3m memorial garden for the 67 Britons who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Today George Pataki, New York’s governor, celebrates American Independence Day by taking part in a ground-breaking ceremony for the 1776ft Freedom Tower which will replace the twin towers destroyed on September 11, 2001.  Illustration from the Sunday Times articleThree blocks away, British expatriates are planning in a few weeks’ time to unseat a statue of one of the first Dutch mayors of the city to make way for a public park to commemorate the British dead. Quarrying began in Caithness and Morayshire last week to produce the paving stones that will create a map of the British Isles as a base for the garden. It will be surrounded by topiary trees and flowers propagated from seeds brought by the Princess Royal from Hampton Court Palace. At the southern end of the “map” will stand a new edifice. Anish Kapoor, the award- winning British artist, will create a 20ft high monolith called Unity to mark the special relationship between Britain and the United States. Ironically, the garden is to be sited in Hanover Square, close to Wall Street and named in the 18th century after the royal family whose rule was subsequently overthrown in the American war of independence. “I knew as soon as I walked into the square that it was right, even before I knew its history,” said Camilla Hellman, the New York-based businesswoman from Henley-on-Thames who came up with the idea of a memorial which will also serve as a focus for Remembrance Day parades for New York’s 200,000 British. “It felt like an English square.” The New York parks department agreed to hand over the plot to British designers, gardeners and artists. A water wheel with blades made from Welsh slate will sit in the centre of the park, which will take up three-quarters of an acre of the Big Apple’s precious real estate. Peggy Brown, of the Friends of the British Memorial Garden, said: “We hope to dedicate the garden on Remembrance Day next year. We don’t want to be in competition with ground zero. That is sacred ground for the Americans.” Kapoor, who won the Turner prize in 1991, has found a 60-ton block of black granite in Zimbabwe that will form the basis of his sculpture. It will be shipped to Tuscany for him to work on before being ferried to New York. He plans to hew out the centre of the block to create an inner chamber so highly polished that it will have a mirrored surface. “The chamber will reflect light so as to form a column which will hover, ghost-like, in the void of the stone,” he said. “The stone will appear to create within itself a reflection akin to an eternal flame.” The dead from September 11 will be honoured in 67 finials on railings flanking one side of the garden. They will be emblazoned with the country motifs for each victim: rose for English, daffodil for Welsh, thistle for Scottish, flax for Northern Irish. It was the biggest British death toll in any single terrorist attack. More Britons died than people of any other nationality except American. Charles Wolfe, an American businessman whose Welsh wife Katherine was killed in the attack while working for Marsh & McLennan, an insurance group, said: “The 9/11 attack was so public that the healing process is so different from losing someone in something like a car crash. “The memorial garden is a very nice idea that will help with that process and help maintain my connection to Britain.” June 4, 2004  NRI'S TRIBUTE TO MARK GROUND ZERO LONDON: Award-winning NRI artist Anish Kapoor will create a 20-feet-high monolith called "Unity" to be installed at the southern end of a three-million-pound garden to be set up in Manhattan in the memory of the 67 Britons who died in the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. Kapoor, who won the Turner-prize in 1991, has found a 60-tonne block of black granite in Zimbabwe that will form the basis of his sculpture. It will be shipped to Tuscany for him to work on before being ferried to New York, according to a report in The Sunday Times on Sunday. It said Kapoor plans to hew out the centre of the block to create an inner chamber so highly polished that it will have a mirrored surface. "The chamber will reflect light so as to form a column which will hover, ghost-like, in the void of the stone," Kapoor said. "The stone will appear to create within itself a reflection akin to an eternal flame." The dead from September 11 will be honoured in 67 finials on railings flanking one side of the garden. They will be emblazoned with the country motifs for each victim: rose for English, daffodil for Welsh, thistle for Scottish, flax for Northern Irish. Work on the memorial garden will start next month. Peggy Brown, of the Friends of British Memorial Garden, said: "We hope to dedicate the garden on Remembrance Day next year. We don't want to be in competition with the Ground Zero. That is sacred ground for the Americans." The garden will be situated three blocks away from Ground Zero. May 24, 2004  9/11 MEMORIAL SCULPTURE TO HAVE "ETERNAL FLAME" By Liz Clark, London Press Service ONE of the most eminent and influential sculptors, Anish Kapoor, has been chosen to create an important work that will be the centrepiece of the proposed British Memorial Garden, close to Ground Zero in New York. The aim of the garden, to be sited in Hanover Square, an area of New York with historical links to the United Kingdom, is to “celebrate the unity of the two nations”, to commemorate the 67 UK citizens who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, and to make “a uniquely British” contribution to the revitalisation of that part of Manhattan. Called Unity, Kapoor’s sculpture will be carved from black granite and the block – about six metres high by 2.5m wide by 1.5m deep - would have a tall vertical chamber cut into it. “This will be polished to give a mirrored surface and reflect light so as to form a column that hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone,” said Kapoor. “This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame.” The British Memorial Garden Trust in New York chose Kapoor from a list of illustrious names that included Sir Anthony Caro, Antony Gormley and Julian Opie. The plan has been given approval by the New York Art Commission that is in charge of works of art proposed for open spaces in the city. Kapoor, who was born in India, studied art in London, first at Hornsey College, from 1973-78, and then at Chelsea School of Art. He quickly gained worldwide renown and, in 1991, was the winner of the top award in the UK for contemporary art, the Turner Prize. His work has been exhibited in many countries and is held in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain; the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the Tate Gallery in London. One of his most ambitious recent works was for Tate Modern. Entitled Marsyas, the massive trumpet-shaped sculpture managed to fill the gallery’s vast Turbine Hall. The piece was named after a Greek mythological character who presumptuously challenged the god Apollo to a flute contest and was punished by being skinned alive, giving rise to “a river of blood”. The piece achieved critical acclaim, as well as attracting thousands of extra visitors to the gallery. Public works in the UK have included Sky Mirror - sited outside the Nottingham Playhouse, in the English Midlands. The huge metal dish sculpture captures reflections of the sky on its burnished surface. Kapoor uses a range of materials for his works, including steel, stone, acrylic and resin that help him to explore his intense interest in light and darkness as well as what he sees as “deep-rooted metaphysical polarities: presence and absence, being and non-being, place and non-place, the solid and the intangible”. May 5, 2004  BRITAIN'S 9/11 MEMORIAL FOR NYC By Stephanie Cash, Art In America 'Front Page' An English garden will soon be taking shape in Lower Manhattan as part of a memorial honoring the 67 British victims of the Sept. 11 attack in New York City. Located at Hanover Square in theFinancial District in Lower Manhattan, the British Memorial Garden will feature a major work byBombay-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor. Theartist has designed a monolithic slab of black granite,approximately 20 by 8 by 5 feet, with a carved andpolished vertical recess. Light reflecting inside thechamber will seem to form a candlelike column,which the artist intends as an eternal flame.The garden is the brainchild of Camilla G. Hellman, an officer atthe St. George’s Society, who is spearheading efforts to raise $3.5million to build and endow it. A nonprofit trust has been establishedto facilitate the project’s realization. Competitions were held toselect the garden’s designers and an artist. Kapoor was selectedfrom a field of 12 British sculptors that included Anthony Caro,Tony Cragg, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon. Landscapearchitects Julian and Isabel Bannerman, who have designed gardensfor the Prince of Wales, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John,were selected for their curving plan that is derived from a map ofGreat Britain. Yew trees sculpted into topiary shapes will be prominent,as will flowers grown from seeds from the gardens of HenryVIII and William III. Paving stones incised with the names of Britishcounties will wind through the garden. On an iron fence, the 9/11victims will be symbolized by flower-shaped elements representingtheir counties of residence. The garden is scheduled for completionin summer 2005. April 30, 2004  MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH From "The Standard Diary' by Thomas Octavius  Henley emigré Camilla Hellman (pictured above) is spearheading an ambitious £3 million scheme to build a memorial garden to the 67 British citizens killed in the twin towers terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001. Camilla, whose grandparents Sir Bertram and Lady Galer and parents Konrad and Josette Hellman, were long-standing Henley residents, is vice chairman and director of the British Memorial Garden Trust UK. She is also involved with the St. George's Society of New York, where she now lives. An Early Day parliamentary motion supporting the building of the memorial garden in Hanover Square, New York, this week received the support of more than 100 MPs including three former cabinet ministers and 21 former ministers. The first big UK fundraising event was a reception held this week at the House of Commons and hosted by the motion's proponent David Tredinnick MP. He said: "I would encourage every British citizen to support this garden as a wonderful international celebration. It will make a uniquely British contribution to the re-building of Lower Manhattan and form a very special place for recreation and reflection." Camilla, who has overseen the British Memorial Trust since its inception in 2002, was born in Henley and grew up just outside the town in Shepherds Green, attending Rupert House School. She returns to Henley whenever she can and especially enjoys Regatta week. She tells me: "Henley has changed and grown so much in recent years, but it is still managing to stay the same and that is wonderful." April 29, 2004  MEMORIAL TO HONOUR BRITISH VICTIMS OF SEPT 11 By Simon English in New York Plans for a memorial to the 67 Britons killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were unveiled yesterday at a ceremony near the site of the former World Trade Centre. Anish Kapoor, a Turner prize-winning sculptor known for massive yet stylish works, has been commissioned to create a 19.5ft-high monument called Unity. The work will be crafted from a block of black granite, into which a polished inner chamber will be carved. The chamber is designed to reflect light, creating an impression similar to an eternal flame. It will be the central element of a British-themed garden at Hanover Square, near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Mr Kapoor, who fought off competition from some of the world's leading artists to win, said: "I can't presume to know the first thing about the suffering or the pain and the sadness. "What I can do is to say we can make a great work of art. If it has the right sense of contemplation about it, it will allow a certain serenity." He admitted that not everyone would like the finished work and said there had already been "negotiations" over "how to dilute what has been proposed". He added: "One has to have a certain amount of humility about presuming to have something to say." Julian and Isabel Bannerman, who have worked for the Prince of Wales and Lord Lloyd-Webber, are designing the £2 million garden. It is seen as a gift from the British community in New York and other Anglo-American friends of the city. The garden will also commemorate Britons who died beside Americans in other conflicts. It will include a ribbon of stones carrying the name of each British county and is due to be completed next year. Mr Kapoor, 50, was born in Bombay and has worked in London since the 1970s. He won the Turner Prize in 1991 and was made a CBE last year. April 29, 2004  GARDEN MEMORIAL TO BRITISH 9/11 VICTIMS PLANNED By Joe Churcher, Political Staff, PA News A New York garden memorial to the British victims of September 11 will help ensure political rows do not “pollute” memories of the tragic events, Britain’s former Ambassador to the US said tonight. Sir Christopher Meyer said the project, to be built in Hanover Square close to where the World Trade Centre stood, would also celebrate the newly-strengthened bond between the two countries. He was speaking at the launch in the Commons of the UK fundraising campaign for the £3 million garden, which it is hoped could be completed by autumn next year. It is being designed by renowned British landscape architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman using only British materials and will feature a work by Turner Prize-winning sculptor Anish Kapoor. Sir Christopher, now the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said that of all his experiences during six years in Washington, “none was more vivid, more intense, more lasting than the 10 days between September 11 and September 20, 2001”. A total of 67 British citizens were killed in the attack by al Qaida – the biggest British death toll in any single terrorist attack. “The thing that really haunts my wife and me from that day (September 20) is, after the service, going to meet some of the relatives of those who had been lost in the two towers. “Not so much not knowing what to say as being conscious of an utter inadequacy in trying to say some few words of comfort in a desperate situation. “I think that as time goes by, and we look back on this with the benefit of hindsight, you realise two things. “First, time moves so much faster nowadays, the 24-hour news cycle, people’s attention span is so much shorter than it used to be. “But this is something which mustn’t be forgotten and it mustn’t be polluted by the political controversies that have developed since that terrible day about how you deal with international terrorism and whether it is right to do this or right to do that. “We mustn’t let that pollute the memories.” It was also important to mark the way in which relations between the British and American people had been strengthened by the events of September 11, he said. “If it was, for the friends and relatives of those that were lost, the worst of times – and it is so difficult to imagine their suffering in that moment – it was, in another sense, the best of times because it brought people together in New York City. “It brought people together between New York and London; it brought the British and American peoples together in a way that I had never experienced in my career. “That again is something very precious we must not lose sight of. “While always being acutely conscious of what has happened in the past, we must look forward and move ahead and the fact that we are going to have this beautiful garden is very, very important. “It is not only going to be a reminder of the sacrifices and loss and sorrow of September 11 but it will have a wider meaning for the relationship between our two countries, for the many other sacrifices we have made together and, heaven knows, I expect there will be more to come.” The event was hosted by Tory MP David Tredinnick, one of the co-chairman of the UK side of the project, who has won the support of nearly 200 MPs for a motion backing the garden. The Prince of Wales is Royal patron of the The British Memorial Garden Trust with other patrons including former secretaries general of Nato Lord Carrington and Lord Robertson and the US Ambassador to Britain William Farish. Mr Tredinnick said that even before fundraising on this side of the Atlantic had officially begun, donations and pledges already totalled £73,000. April 19, 2004  NEW YORK MEMORIAL GARDEN FOR BRITISH VICTIMS OF 9/11 David Tredinnick, Early Day Motion 974 That this House welcomes the British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square, New York to be built as a permanent memorial to the 67 British victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 11th September 2001; recognises that the garden has the support of the New York City government, the Consulate-General and the British community in New York; notes that following a competition the garden has been designed by British architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman as a place of reflection and recreation and as a focal point for Remembrance Day and other observances for the British community; further notes that following a second competition British artist, Anish Kapoor, will design a sculpture symbolising unity between the United Kingdom and the United States of America; further recognises that the initiative was set up by the US Charity British Memorial Garden Trust Inc, under the Patronage of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales; and welcomes the launch of the British charity British Memorial Garden Trust UK Ltd on 19th April to support the work carried out in New York and to raise funds in the United Kingdom. April 19, 2004  A CORNER OF ENGLAND TO BLOOM IN NEW YORK By Rebecca English, The Daily Mail, London It is a pleasant, if unremarkable, spot in the heart of New York. But if all goes to plan, a tiny piece of England will soon be blooming there. Little more than two blocks from the scene of the world’s worst terrorist atrocity, campaigners are hoping to plant a garden in memory of the 67 Britons who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The £3 million project in Hanover Square has attracted a host of influential backers, including the Prince of Wales, who has agreed to become patron. The garden will be encased by 67 iron railings decorated with rose, thistle, daffodil and flax motifs in honour of the victims. Inside, 25 stone benches interspersed with box hedging will give visitors a place to sit and enjoy the peace.The project’s motto is Reflect, Remember, Rebuild. Seeds taken from Henry VIII’s gardens at Hampton Court Palace will ensure the flower borders blossom. In fact all materials used in the garden will come from different parts of the British Isles. The designers, husband-and-wife team Julian and Isabel Bannerman, have created gardens for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Elton John. The couple are using the famous lines from Rupert Brooke’s war poem, The Soldier – “..That there’s a corner of some foreign field / That is forever England” – as inspiration for the project. The centerpiece is a 20ft. sculpture made from a single block of pure black granite, created by Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor. Hanover Square, in the heart of New York’s financial district, is an appropriate setting for a British memorial. It is named after George III and was one of the few places in New York to retain its royal links after the American revolution. The charity behind the project – the British Memorial Garden Trust – hopes that it will also be seen as a tribute to all British servicemen and women who have lost their lives serving their country. It hopes to start work on the garden in the autumn. “The garden is a wonderful international celebration and will make a uniquely British contribution to the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan,” said MP David Tredinnick, who will launch the Trust’s £3 million British appeal today. “It will be a garden unlike any other in the city and form a very special place of recreation and reflection.” For details on sponsoring the garden of making a donation to the appeal visit the web site www.britishmemorialgarden.org.uk or telephone 0207 222 8515. April 19, 2004  MPs BACKING TWIN TOWERS PROJECT By Ian Craig, Manchester News MPs from Greater Manchester today backed plans for an appeal to raise £3m for a permanent memorial to victims of the New York terror attacks. Nearly 120 MPs have signed up to support plans for a memorial garden in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the relationship between the UK and New York. The MPs include Brian Iddon (Bolton South East), Terry Lewis (Worsley), Graham Stringer (Manchester Blackley) and the Tory MP Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield). The planned British memorial garden is set to be built just a few blocks from Ground Zero, the scene of the attacks on September 11, 2001. The £3m garden - which has the support of New York City officials - has been designed by British architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman and will incorporate sculpted trees, classic stone benches and include specially commissioned sculptures. Launching today's appeal, the Conservative MP David Tredinnick said the gardens would make a uniquely British contribution to the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. He added: "I'm delighted that nearly 120 MPs have signed a Commons motion in support of the plan, including 24 former ministers. I hope that more MPs will add their support, sending a very positive message from the UK to New York." April 18, 2004 A GARDEN IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FEEL SAFE AND REFLECT BBC World Interview with Camilla Hellman, British Memorial Trust  Click on the link to see an interview on BBC World just prior to the UK Press Launch. April 9-15, 2004  LIGHT MEMORIAL FROM ACROSS THE POND The directors of the British Memorial Garden Trust last week chose the design of Anish Kapoor, a prize-winning British sculptor, for the Unity monument to serve as the focal point of the new British Memorial Garden to be built this spring in Hanover Sq. in honor of U.K. citizens lost in the World Trade Center attack. The monument, 19.5 ft high, eight ft. wide and nearly five ft. deep, will be carved from a solid piece of black marble with a vertical chamber cut into the front about eight ft. tall, three ft. wide and about 2.5 ft. deep. The inside of the chamber will be polished to a mirror surface to reflect light in the form of a column inside the black stone. Kapoor, 50, born in Bombay, is a Commander of the British Empire and has sculpture in several museums in Europe and the U.S. His design was chosen by a jury of British and American art experts, Department of Parks and Recreation officials and Judy Duffy, representing Community Board 1. The garden is designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, English landscape architects. Friends of the British Memorial Garden in Hanover Sq., is raising $3.5 million to build and maintain the garden and memorial. April 7, 2004  SEPTEMBER 11 GARDEN TO USE SCOTS STONE By David Perry, Aberdeen Press and Journal Stone quarried from Moray and Caithness is destined for a special British garden of remembrance for the UK victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Organisers of the British Memorial Garden trust, which is planning to build the garden close to Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Centre towers destroyed in the attacks, hopes to use the Scottish stone as part of the memorial to the 67 UK victims. And one of the ways the trust is trying to raise the 5million (£2.75million) cost is by selling stones inscribed by British sculptor Simon Verity with the names of the counties and local government areas of Scotland for 2,500 (£1,375) each. The plan is to inlay Moray stone from Clashach quarry, Hopeman, in paving made up of Caithness slab from Achscrabster Quarry, Thurso, outlining the shape of the British Isles. A 10,000 (£5,500) donation from the Scottish Executive was announced by Finance and Public Services Minister Andy Kerr in the run-up to the Tartan Day celebrations in New York and Washington yesterday. He said the garden would "provide a place of reflection and remembrance of the Britons who died in the World Trade Centre attacks". The garden is in Hanover Square, one of the few areas of New York to retain its name from British colonial days, in lower Manhattan. It has been designed by British landscape architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman, who are working on part of Prince Charles' estate at Highgrove, Gloucestershire, and have worked on the late Queen Mother's estate at Castle of Mey. Besides the Scottish stone, the quarter-acre site will contain topiary, yew and philadelphus bushes and other traditional UK plants, a massive granite sculpture and a memorial plaque. John Sutherland, managing director of Caithness Stone, whose massive dark slabs feature on New York broadwalks, hopes to supply the bulk of the paving for the park. He said the Clashach sandstone will be transported to Thurso where it and the slabs will be carved to shape using high-pressure water jet cutters. The stonework will be coded and shipped in ten 40-foot container loads for assembly like a jigsaw on the other side of the Atlantic. Clashach owner Drew Baillie, whose stone has been used for restoration work at Fort George, Inverness, and Elgin Cathedral, said: "I am delighted and honoured to be involved in the project." Mr Bannerman said: "Caithness stone comes in large dark slabs and I have always loved it for paving. I first saw it at Kinkell on the Black Isle and it stayed in my mind ever since." Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP John Thurso said: "In the last century Caithness flagstones paved the world and it is therefore a fitting tribute that our stone should pave this memorial." Moray SNP MP Angus Robertson, who learned of the project at a reception for Tartan Day in Central Park, New York, said: "I think it is tremendous that stone from Moray and elsewhere in the north will play an important part in commemorating the victims of September 11. "The connections between Scotland and the US are close and longstanding and this is a fitting contribution to the project." The project was officially launched by its patron, Princess Anne, who presented marigold seeds from a historic garden at Hampton Court Palace, London. Prince Charles is also a patron. It is being overseen by the British Consulate General and the St George's Society, a 243-year-old organisation for Britons in New York. April 7, 2004 ANISH KAPOOR TO SCULPT SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL Mumbai-born sculptor Anish Kapoor is all set to create a memorial in New York to the British victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. According to a report in BBC, the six-m sculpture titled "Unity" will form the centrepiece of a memorial garden in Hanover Square, near the twin towers site. Remembrance ceremonies will be held in the garden. Sixty-seven Britons died in the attacks, the biggest loss of British life in a terrorist attack. The sculpture will be crafted from a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately one-m by 2.5- m by 80-cm. "The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame", the report qioted the artist as saying. British Memorial Garden Trust in New York, who has Prince Charles and the British Consulate as patrons, announced Kapoor's success against 11 other artists who submitted designs. Kapoor, 50, moved to London in the 1970s to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. He won the Turner Prize in 1991, and was made a CBE last year. April 6, 2004 EXECUTIVE DONATES £5,500 TO NEW YORK MEMORIAL By Edward Black in New York (extract) New York was today preparing to stage the pageantry and celebration associated with the annual Tartan Day event, when Scotland and the United States mark their close ties. With six days of promotional events under way in the Big Apple, George Reid, the Presiding Officer, has announced a $10,000 (£5,467) donation from the Scottish Executive to a New York memorial garden in honour of the 67 Britons who died in the 11 September terrorist attacks. Speaking at a reception yesterday hosted by the Executive in New York’s Central Park, he said the donation was an expression of the close ties between Scotland and the United States currently being celebrated during Tartan Week. He said: "We are delighted to announce a $10,000 donation from the Scottish Executive for this memorial garden which has Prince Charles as its patron. "It is especially apt that while a lot of Scottish people are currently out here in New York for the Tartan Week celebrations we honour the close links between our two countries." Due to customs regulations, none of the plants in the half-acre garden, which will be located three blocks from Ground Zero, will come from Britain. But a piece of Scotland will find its place there. The stone used for a sculpture and decoration in the garden comes from Morayshire and Caithness. Peggy Brown, a spokeswoman for the British Memorial Garden, said the garden would be a fitting tribute to the British people killed in the terrorist attacks. She said: "There has been a great deal of interest and pride from Scotland not only in contributing the stone but in terms of the design. Tartan Week is clearly about a well-established link between Scotland and America, but this project touches something deeper than that. " "There will be no names or a cross in the garden but instead the 67 British victims will be honoured by an intricate design of the gilt finials, the pointed tops of the railings, which will be decorated in four different designs to honour the four different components of the United Kingdom. The design team is Isabelle and Julian Bannerman, who were responsible for designing Prince Charles’ gardens at Highgrove and the man behind the memorial sculpture is Anish Kapoor." April 5, 2004  SCULPTOR ANISH KAPOOR IS TO CREATE A MEMORIAL IN NEW YORK TO THE BRITISH VICTIMS OF THE 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE News Release from ArtRussia, Russia The 19.5ft (6m) sculpture, Unity, will form the centrepiece of a memorial garden in Hanover Square, near the twin towers site. Remembrance ceremonies will be held in the garden. Sixty-seven Britons died in the attacks, the biggest loss of British life in a terrorist attack. The sculpture will be crafted from a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately 1m [3.3ft] by 2.5m [8.2ft] by 80cm [2.6ft]. "The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface," said the Bombay-born artist. "The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. "This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame." Kapoor's success against 11 other artists who submitted designs, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon, was announced by the British Memorial Garden Trust in New York. Prince Charles and the British Consulate in New York are patrons of the charity. Kapoor, 50, moved to London in the 1970s to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. He won the Turner Prize in 1991, and was made a CBE last year. April 5, 2004  MEMORIAL GARDENS FOR 9/11 VICTIMS The Executive will donate $10,000 towards a memorial garden in Manhattan to commemorate the British victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Minister for Finance and Public Services Andy Kerr made the announcement yesterday during his visit to New York. Mr Kerr is currently attending US Tartan Day celebrations in New York and Washington, where he and First Minister Jack McConnell are involved in events to promote Scotland to American businesses and tourists alike. The British Memorial Garden is planned for Hanover Square in Manhattan, an area close to Ground Zero with significant historical connections to the UK. It will commemorate the 67 British citizens who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. Mr Kerr said: “The Scottish Executive is contributing to this memorial garden, which will provide a place of reflection and remembrance of the Britons who died in the World Trade Centre attacks. Stone quarried from two Scottish council areas, Morayshire and Caithness, will be used throughout the garden, demonstrating the strong link that continues to exist between Scotland and America.” Mr Kerr is also participating in the Scotland Run, a 10 kilometre run in Central Park on Sunday 4 April. The race is a qualifier for the New York marathon and the Minister will be raising money for his local charity, the Kilbryde Hospice. Mr Kerr said: “Competing alongside 5000 other runners in Central Park is going to be a unique experience, and although my training for the event is going to be limited, I do hope to complete the course with a respectable finishing time and raise as much as possible for charity.” He added: “Tartan Day is an American celebration of Scottish ancestry and of the contribution Scots have made to the US. It provides excellent opportunities to showcase both traditional and contemporary Scotland in the US, in particular why Scotland is an excellent place to live, work and study.” Mr Kerr will also participate in various business community events, including visiting the Scotland Showcase in Central Park, New York and participating in a ground breaking ceremony for the Capitol Hills Tower project in Washington. A British Memorial Garden Trust has been set up and of which HRH The Prince of Wales is the patron. They aim to raise a total of $3.5 million dollars towards the cost of design, construction and ongoing maintenance. The British Memorial Garden Trust will have a small display at the joint Scottish Executive/Scottish Parliament reception at the Boathouse in Central Park in New York on Sunday 4 April. April 2, 2004  UNITY SCULPTURE FOR 9/11 SITE Anish Kapoor is to create the New York memorial to the 67 Britons killed on September 11, with a six-metre granite sculpture that will form a focal point for remembrance ceremonies near the site of the World Trade Centre attacks. April 2, 2004  KAPOOR SCULPTURE TO HONOUR TWIN TOWERS VICTIMS By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent The 67 Britons killed in the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York will be commemorated in a giant granite sculpture by the Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor. Kapoor, who was unsuccessful with his proposals for a memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, beat 11 other artists, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Richard Deacon and Antony Gormley, to win the commission. His 19.5ft sculpture, called Unity , will be carved from a block of black granite to form the centrepiece of a proposed memorial garden in Hanover Square in lower Manhattan, near the site of the twin towers. It will feature the mirrored surfaces and reflections seen in many of his previous works. Kapoor said yesterday that the block would have a vertical chamber of three feet by eight feet by two feet carved into it. He said: "The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame." The decision to appoint Kapoor was announced yesterday by the British Memorial Garden Trust in New York, which has raised some $3.5m (£2m) to pay for the memorial. The plan has been approved by the New York Art Commission, which has final say on art proposed for the city's open spaces. The first phase of the garden project is expected to begin this spring, with the finished garden opening in the summer of next year. Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1954 but has lived in Britain since the 1970s. He won the Turner Prize in 1991 and was made a CBE last year. His large-scale works have been seen at galleries including the Hayward on the South Bank and at the Millennium Dome. He is providing the colossal polished steel centrepiece for the Millennium Park in Chicago, due to open this summer. The public fell in love with his giant red trumpet sculpture, Marsyas , when it was in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. April 2, 2004  MEMORIAL TO HONOUR BRITISH VICTIMS OF SEPT 11 By Simon English in New York as published in the London Telegraph and news.telegraph.co.uk Plans for a memorial to the 67 Britons killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were unveiled yesterday at a ceremony near the site of the former World Trade Centre. Anish Kapoor, a Turner prize-winning sculptor known for massive yet stylish works, has been commissioned to create a 19.5ft-high monument called Unity. The work will be crafted from a block of black granite, into which a polished inner chamber will be carved. The chamber is designed to reflect light, creating an impression similar to an eternal flame. It will be the central element of a British-themed garden at Hanover Square, near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Mr Kapoor, who fought off competition from some of the world's leading artists to win, said: "I can't presume to know the first thing about the suffering or the pain and the sadness. "What I can do is to say we can make a great work of art. If it has the right sense of contemplation about it, it will allow a certain serenity." He admitted that not everyone would like the finished work and said there had already been "negotiations" over "how to dilute what has been proposed". He added: "One has to have a certain amount of humility about presuming to have something to say." Julian and Isabel Bannerman, who have worked for the Prince of Wales and Lord Lloyd-Webber, are designing the £2 million garden. It is seen as a gift from the British community in New York and other Anglo-American friends of the city. The garden will also commemorate Britons who died beside Americans in other conflicts. It will include a ribbon of stones carrying the name of each British county and is due to be completed next year. Mr Kapoor, 50, was born in Bombay and has worked in London since the 1970s. He won the Turner Prize in 1991 and was made a CBE last year. April 1, 2004 KAPOOR TO CREATE MEMORIAL TO BRITISH 9/11 VICTIMS By Mark Sage, PA News, New York as published in The Scotsman and NEWS.scotsman.com Sculptor Anish Kapoor will create the memorial in New York to the 67 Britons killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, it was announced today. Kapoor beat off competition from a host of other respected British artists to design the centrepiece of a memorial garden in lower Manhattan. The 19.5ft-high sculpture, called “Unity”, will be carved from a massive block of granite and will form the focal point for remembrance ceremonies. Kapoor said: “It is a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately one metre by 2.5 metres by 80cm.“The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface. The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone.“This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame.” Kapoor, born in Bombay in 1954, has had his work exhibited around the world since the 1970s, when he moved to London to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. In 1991, he won the Turner Prize and was made a CBE last year. His latest work will feature in the memorial garden in Hanover Square, near the site of the attacks on the twin towers. His success against 11 other artists who submitted designs, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon, was announced by the British Memorial Garden Trust in New York. The Prince of Wales recently became Royal Patron of the charity, which is also supported by the British Consulate in New York. April 1, 2004  KAPOOR TO CREATE 9/11 MEMORIAL Sculptor Anish Kapoor is to create a memorial in New York to the British victims of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre. The 19.5ft (6m) sculpture, Unity, will form the centrepiece of a memorial garden in Hanover Square, near the twin towers site. Remembrance ceremonies will be held in the garden. Sixty-seven Britons died in the attacks, the biggest loss of British life in a terrorist attack. The sculpture will be crafted from a block of black granite into which a vertical chamber is carved of approximately 1m [3.3ft] by 2.5m [8.2ft] by 80cm [2.6ft]. "The inner chamber is polished to give a mirrored surface," said the Bombay-born artist. "The chamber reflects light so as to form a column, which hovers, ghost-like, in the void of the stone. This very physically monolithic object then appears to create within itself an ephemeral reflection akin to an eternal flame." Kapoor's success against 11 other artists who submitted designs, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon, was announced by the British Memorial Garden Trust in New York. Prince Charles and the British Consulate in New York are patrons of the charity. Kapoor, 50, moved to London in the 1970s to study art at Hornsey College and the Chelsea School of Art Design. He won the Turner Prize in 1991, and was made a CBE last year. Listen to an interview with Anish Kapoor on BBC Radio 4 March 31, 2004  A VERY BRITISH GARDEN TO HONOUR VICTIMS OF SEPTEMBER 11 By Andrew Pierce, The Times of London  March 3, 2004  PUPILS IN NEW YORK TO REMEMBER WELSH VICTIM OF SEPTEMBER 11 From www.walesatheart.com Minister for Economic Development and Transport Andrew Davies met with students from Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera in New York on St David’s Day to remember a former pupil of the school who was killed in the World Trade Centre attack. The Minister joined teachers and Year 12 pupils from Ystalyfera to lay a wreath in memory of banker Nicholas John, from Dunvant, Swansea. A wreath of daffodils and Welsh flags was presented to a guardian of a new Memorial Garden for the British victims who died on September 11, close to the Ground Zero site at Hanover Square.  Work on the new Garden, which will incorporate a design of Welsh slate, will begin in July and should be completed by Spring 2005. The school’s wreath will be kept to be displayed in the Garden when it is finished. Mr Davies, who was in New York to open the new Wales International Centre in the Chrysller Building, had earlier in his visit met BBC business journalist Stephen Evans, originally from Bridgend, who had famously reported on the September 11 attacks. The Minister said: "I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet the pupils during their visit to New York and take time to commemorate the memory of Nicholas John. The proposed Memorial Garden in Hanover Square will be a fitting tribute to the memory of all those British victims of the terrorist atrocities of September 11." January 20, 2004  GARDEN PARTY from the New York Post, Page Six "To the president!" "To the Queen!" "To the Loyal Societies!" "Hear! Hear!" These were the toasts the other night at a benefit for the British Memorial Garden. The dinner/dance at Cipriani 42nd Street honored Sir Thomas Harris, the U.K. consul-general who helped create the 9/11 memorial garden to open next year in Hanover Square. Co-chair Heather Cohane finagled a new Mini-Cooper for raffle. A signed sketch by Prince Charles of his country home, Highgrove, was auctioned. Celebrants included red-headed fireball Edwina Sandys, also a co-chair, with her husband Richard Kaplan; Paris Review publisher Drue Heinz; philanthropist Liz Fondaras, in cascades of KJL pearls; and the imposing Earl of Albemarle with his elegant countess, who markets her sculptural houseware under her maiden name, Sally Tadayon. January 19, 2004  PARK DIGS EYED FOR MAYORAL ARTIFACT By Frank Lombardi, Daily News City Hall Bureau, New York City Hall Park could soon get a new mayoral tenant - a wealthy businessman and philanthropist with a heart that's literally as cold as bronze. This would-be park tenant is a hulking bronze statue of one of the city's Colonial-era mayors: Abraham De Peyster, who served from 1692 to 1694 as the city's 20th mayor. The statue is currently in a tiny, brick-paved park at Hanover Square, near Wall Street. But it is being evicted soon to make way for a privately funded $2.5 million transformation of Hanover Square into the British Memorial Garden. Officials favor relocating the De Peyster statue to City Hall Park, and the private funds would also pay for moving it. The Landmarks Preservation Commission issued an advisory report Tuesday approving the proposed relocation as "in keeping with the special architectural and historic character of City Hall Park." The final decision, however, will be up to the city's Art Commission, which is expected to take the matter up next month. "I don't think it will be controversial," said Art Commission Executive Director Deborah Bershad, hinting at an approval. The proposed move already has the blessing of Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, who said that even though the current City Hall was built long after De Peyster died, "in a sense he would be coming home." The goal is to move the statue to an area near Tweed Courthouse. There are two other statues within the park, but De Peyster's would be the first of any of the city's 108 mayors. It would join statues of Horace Greeley (1811-72), the famed publisher of the Tribune, and Nathan Hale, the patriot spy hanged by the British during the Revolutionary War. De Peyster's name, however, is probably familiar only to historians and walking-tour guides. The son of a wealthy Dutch-born merchant, De Peyster was born in 1657 in tiny New Amsterdam, which eight years later was seized from the Dutch by the British and renamed New York. De Peyster thrived under the turbulent British reign, and at his death in 1728 was one of the richest New Yorkers. The statue was commissioned in the 1890s by a descendant, John Watts De Peyster, who donated it to the city. It was placed in Bowling Green Park in 1896 and remained there until a subway renovation in 1972. It was in storage on Randalls Island for four years before ending up in Hanover Square. De Peyster is depicted sitting in an imposing chair, bewigged and sporting a lavish cloak. He has a sheathed sword tucked under his left arm and a parchment in his left hand, denoting his political and military roles in the Colonial government. De Peyster's rather foreboding expression was lightened on a recent visit by the pigeon that squatted familiarly on his head. January 16, 2004  WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT CIPRIANI 42ND STREET Wednesday night at Cipriani 42nd Street the British Memorial Garden Trust held a fund-raising gala “Twilight in the Garden” and honored Her Majesty’s Consul-General in New York, Sir Thomas Harris, KBE, CMG. Sir Thomas, who is honorary patron of the British Memorial Garden Trust has been behind the project since its inception in June 2002. This past October, Prince Charles agreed to become Royal Patron of the British Memorial Garden. The garden was conceived as a memorial to the 67 citizens of the UK who were killed in the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. It will be constructed in Hanover Square, possibly the oldest park in Manhattan (created by the British during their rule), from a design by Julian and Isabel Bannerman, internationally renowned landscape architects who have done work for Prince Charles, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Elton John, among others. The garden will feature classic topiary, curving stone benches sitting among boxwood hedges with a water rill and drinking fountain, stone from all parts of Britain --- particularly from Caithness, York and Bath – with a ribboning of engraved stone noting all the counties of Great Britain. The railing will be detailed to symbolize each of the 67 British lives lost in the murderous disaster.Rufus Albemarle (Earl of Albemarle is his title), a resident of Manhattan and John Elderfield of MoMA assembled a group of British sculptors to submit work that symbolized the strength of all that has been shared between the United Kingdom and the United States. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, visited New York last April, bringing with her seeds from Hampton Court Palace, London that will be grown in the future garden. The princess’ visit also marked the launch of a $3.5 capital fund-raising campaign. Wednesday night brought out lots of Brits living here in New York as well as hundreds of their friends. There was dinner, dancing, a performance by the group Amici, a silent auction and a raffle for a Mini that was donated by Mini-Cooper for the event.“Reflect, Remember and Rebuild,” the new motto of Wall Street is symbolized in this effort. Those who would like to participate with a donation can learn more about the project by visiting www.britishmemorialgarden.org.    January 14, 2004 PRINCE'S ARTWORK RAISES CHARITY CASH A print of a watercolour by Prince Charles sold for £5,500 ($10,062) in New York on Wednesday. The picture of the Highgrove estate which sold for twice its expected value, was among several exhibits auctioned to raise money for a memorial garden for September 11 victims. The site is being developed in lower Manhattan, near the site where the twin towers fell in 2001. Sixty-seven Britons died in the attacks, the biggest loss of British life in a terrorist attack. More than 300 people attended the black-tie gala dinner at Cipriani's on 42nd Street, Manhattan, paying a minimum of £150 ($275) each. Many guests paid much more than the asking price. During the auction, guests also bid for a private tour of Highgrove, the Prince's Gloucestershire home, by landscape architect Julian Bannerman, which sold for £3,800 ($6,951). An official Jubilee celebration photograph of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, by Lord Lichfield, was sold for £1,600 ($2,926). Spokeswoman Peggy Brown described the charity auction as "amazingly successful". Personal and corporate donations amounting to £135,000 ($247,000) have so far been raised for the trust. January 15, 2004 CHARLES PRINT RAISES $10,000 FOR SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL By Mark Sage, PA News, in New York A print of a watercolour by the Prince of Wales sold for $10,000 early today, during a gala dinner to raise money for a memorial to the British victims of the September 11 terror attacks. The picture of the Highgrove estate sold for twice its expected value and was among several exhibits auctioned to raise money for a memorial garden. The site is being developed in lower Manhattan, near the site where the twin towers fell. Sixty-seven Britons died in the attacks of September 11, the biggest loss of British life in a terrorist atrocity. More than 300 people attended the black-tie gala dinner at Cipriani’s on 42nd Street, Manhattan, paying a minimum of $275 a head. Many guests paid much more than the asking price. During the auction, guests also bid for a private tour of Highgrove by landscape architect Julian Bannerman, which sold for $7,000. Bannerman designed the memorial garden and landscaped Charles’ estate. An official Jubilee celebration photograph of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, by Lord Lichfield, also sold for $3,000. The gala was the first in a series of events aimed at raising nearly $3.5 million for the British Memorial Garden Trust, said spokeswoman Peggy Brown. She described the charity auction as “amazingly successful”. Personal and corporate donations to the tune of $200,000 have so far been raised for the trust. While the trust has not asked the British government for money towards the project, none has been offered either. Ms Brown said: “This is our first major fund-raising event so we are not going to raise all the money we need. “So far we have raised over a quarter of a million dollars.” She said further events would be held later in the year. During the evening Sir Thomas Harris, the British Consul-General in New York, was recognised for his work in supporting the memorial project. He told the assembled guests: “One of my only regrets is that I shall not see the conclusion of this project in my time as Consul-General in New York. “But I do look forward to coming back to to inspect the finished result.” Among the guests were the Earl and Countess of Albemarle. The first seeds of the garden were taken from royal palaces in Britain and sown by the Princess Royal last April. A spokesman for Clarence House said Charles, who is the royal patron of the British Memorial Garden Trust, was “pleased to support this worthwhile project“. Due for opening in summer 2005, the garden will include floral tributes and a sculpture symbolising unity between the British and American people. The trust describes it as “a place of remembrance, contemplation and community recreation“. A host of artists, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon have been competing to design the garden’s centrepiece sculpture. An an official announcement is yet to be made but according to reports Indian-born Anish Kapoor has won the commission. | ||
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