Biggin Hill, Saint Georges Chapel is to Close

[yorkie]

The MOD is to withdraw financial support to Battle of Britain Memorial Chapel at Biggin Hill in Kent. Unless a new backer can be found the chapel is expected to close by March 2016. Defence secretary Anna Soubry states that "Continued support to the Chapel would be an inappropriate use of Defence Resources" The closure of the Chapel is expected to save the Tax Payer £50,000 per year
Anyone who has visited Saint Georges Chapel, will know that it is a fitting memorial to those very brave young men who fought and died in the Battle of Britain,Sir Winston Churchill himself led the fundraising for the Memorial to be built at the famous fighter station at Biggin Hill, making clear his intention that St George`s would stand as a permanent shrine of remembrance to those who gave their lives.
An Online petition has been set up to urge the Ministry of Defence not to abandon it`s support of the Chapel and has already received more than 10,000 signatures.
I wish I knew how to add the link to the petition to this post. I hope someone else with more internet knowledge will do that for me.

[Mike_2817]

Link is towards the bottom of this article with good pictures of chapel

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ry-50-000.html

[ebro]

The following link is to the epetition.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/73191

Eddie.

[yorkstone]

Just signed it this is typical of today's Society

Stephen

[Terry Rayner]

The government gave away GBP12,500,000.000 [THATS BILLIONS] in foreign aid last year to country's that hate us, look after our own first, then worry about other people.
Terry

[Wooffy]

Just finished writing a letter to my MP about this - don't hold out much hope, but its got to be worth a shot!

[Charliedog012012]

This government simply don't 'get it' and it is about time that they connected with the real world. My father and an Uncle both served in the RAF during WW2, the latter serving with Bomber Command and was shot down over Cologne finishing the war as a POW. My brother served in the RAF for over 16 years. I regard the closing of this very special place therefore with utter dismay ( for what is in relative terms a very minor amount of money)..the decision to save a miserly amount of money by closing a memorial to those heroes of the Battle of Britain (no lesser word will suffice) is hypocritical to say the least and utterly appalling. The fighter (and bomber) crews went through utter hell. For goodness sake, let us honour their sacrifice....however much it costs.

[Tonyn]

I heard they have found the money needed http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11...orge_s_Chapel/

Tony

[Charliedog012012]

Originally Posted by Tonyn

I heard they have found the money needed http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11...orge_s_Chapel/

Tony

Wonderful news

[Wooffy]

...and I have an update from my local MP ! Arrived this morning. The salient piece of her response is this:

"I have written to Lord Astor of Hever, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence on your behalf to ask whether this is indeed the case and, if so, why such a decision has been made.

...as soon as I receive a reply I will, of course, write to you again"

Having initially made contact after the storey broke, I updated her following the link posted above saying that the airport was adopting the chapel (or the running cost for it). So - lets see where this goes; I've not given up on this one yet - even if the funding has reportedly been secured!

[Hussar100]

Unfortunately this is a sign of things to come. The two world wars are but a distant memory now and national memorials which cost money to maintain will be whittled down in numbers as more time passes, as the memory fades further and let's face it, whilst the vast majority of the population don't give a stuff about the sacrifices previous generations made.

I mean, how many active memorials now are there for Trafalgar or Waterloo - both events which saved this nation from invasion?

What about the Battle of Blenheim? Where are the active memorials to that, other than Blenheim Hall which, being honest, was a family home for hundreds of years, not accessible to the public?