Memorial day - 31

The sculptor of both the Nelson Mandela memorials, described in Memorial day 24, was Ian Walters. Another of his works can be seen across the Thames from Parliament Square, in the Jubilee Gardens at the foot of the London Eye.

The International Brigade Memorial was unveiled in October 1985 by Michael Foot, one time leader of the Labour Party. The inscription on the front reads:

"INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE. In honour of over 2,100 men and women volunteers who left these shores to fight side by side with the Spanish people in their heroic struggle against fascism, 1936-1939"

The bronze sculpture shows a figure being lifted up by four other smaller figures. The main figure is larger and has a blindfold or bandage across its eyes and around its head. The left hand is missing, severed at the wrist; the right hand trails on the ground palm up.

The arms of the four smaller figures, two on each side, combine together to cradle the dying figure, raising it up. On the left side the arms of the smaller figures are raised, palm open, in an upward defensive gesture; on the right side a hand is raised in the defiant, clenched fist salute of the Republican cause. From a distance the arms and hands look like wings stretching upwards to the sky to lift the fallen figure.

I should mention a personal connection, albeit very very tenuous, with the sculpture. It might have been late 1983 or 84 walking across Jubilee Gardens I was approached by a man with a camera and a long stick. He explained he was a sculptor who was making a memorial to be positioned in the gardens. He wanted to take a photograph to judge the scale of the monument in relation to the adjacent (then Greater London Council HQ office, now hotel, aquarium, etc, etc,) building. Some where there exists a photo of YesBut holding a tall stick.

Memorial day - 24

At very last after a five year struggle, this summer a statue of Nelson Mandela was unveiled in London.

It was originally proposed that the 9ft bronze figure by Ian Walters be placed outside the South African High Commission in Trafalgar Square, but Westminster Council refused to give planning permission. It also turned down the proposal by London's mayor, Ken Livingston, to have it placed outside the National Gallery. Finally they gave planning permission for it to be placed in the south west corner of Parliament Square.

Located within the shadow of Big Ben and across the road from Westminster Abbey, unfortunately it is lost in the myriad of other statues dotted around the green island, and cut off by the constant flow of traffic circulating around the square.

But this is not the first tribute to Nelson Mandela erected in London. A bronze bust by the same sculptor was placed on the Royal Festival Hall podium in 1985 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ANC in 1982.

Unfortunately Ian Walters lost his battle with cancer on 3 August 2006. He had finished the 9-foot tall clay sculpture for the statue but did not live to see it cast in bronze.