At the start of the project I decided that about £18,000 would be needed based on the stonemasons anticipated costs, the transport of the memorial to France, ceremonial and administration costs. It became clear as time went by that many other costs would arise, and this became even more evident when I made a second design for the proposed memorial and consulted a number of sculptors and one design proved to be very much more expensive than the other.
I then set about collecting donations, the first being £5 which was forced on me by an elderly lady on 30th January 1998 before I had really got started. The next donation was for £100 by a former RM Commando who had heard about the project when I got a mention on the BBC (Pam Ayre’s Show) on 13th May 1998. Thenceforth £5 seemed to be the normal private donation.
I gradually worked out a strategy of writing articles in magazines and the local press, all of which brought in donations of varying amounts. I wrote to a number of national and Service and Ex-Services publications etc. informing them of my project and requesting donations; I also made sure that friends and relations were informed and I put collection boxes around the locality in banks, post offices etc. At one stage I obtained the use of a vacant shop window for a temporary display advertising the project which proved valuable and brought in some extra money; I hired a tailor’s dummy, dressed it in my sailor’s outfit which I sometimes used for fancy dress affairs, put up a huge white ensign as a background and filled in the remaining space with enlarged photographs of various types of landing craft and of D-Day scenes. A collection box was available.
I kept a tally of the origins of most donations, but as many donors didn’t say where they had heard about the memorial project, it wasn’t a very exact exercise although it proved useful. I kept a tight rein whence donations came and a finger on the pulse of financial events.
Finally, I was delighted, though surprised, that my efforts resulted in a total of nearly £28,000 which was far more than I ever envisaged. At the close of subscriptions, there were 368 donors, including a number of organizations, several collection boxes, ports and towns associated with landing vessels during World War II and a draw organised by Jim Brend. The smallest individual donation (apart from in the collection boxes) was £2 and the largest was £4,000. The LST & Landing Craft Association donated handsomely.
The costs of the establishment of the memorial and the Unveiling Ceremony were many and varied and some were met freely and without question by the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines Corps. The final cost of building and installing the memorial by the monumental mason was just over £8,500. This and the other costs of organizing the establishment of the memorial e.g. administration, insurance, foundations, paving, several trips to France, etc. were all covered by the donations received. Many costs of the Unveiling Ceremony were met by the French and others including the Municipality of Ouistreham, the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Caen and the Comité du Débarquement. A small amount which remained on completion of all the arrangements was donated to the Royal Marines Corps, partly to cover costs of future maintenance for which they assumed responsibility, and partly a way of recognition of their great help rendered.
©2007 Maurice Hillebrandt