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The original Blog articles are all published below:

12 December

A month of activity and results
As Christmas approaches, the Project Committee is pleased to report that progress has been made in several key areas - Full details are published in the latest Newsletter which is repeated in full on the Project Vernon website.

The main event to report is the news that we've chosen our sculptor - Les Johnson. After a tough selection process, with dramatic competition from Judy Boyt of Peter Hicks Ltd, we were very pleased to announce that we will be working with Les on the final design for the monument. Many thanks go to Vivien Mallock for her positive involvement as the third sculptor in our shortlist. We are also indebted to Professor Brian Falconbridge, President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors who helped guide us through the selection process: no easy task and Brian has further committed to kindly help us throughout the project. The final monument design should be published early in the New Year - do please register for news.
Pledges for funding and donations have now reached over £20,000 - planning is underway for sale, on-line, of the Limited Edition prints of John Terry's superb oil painting: details on how to reserve your very own copy are on the Purchases page of the web site. To encourage wider readership & participation in the campaign, please see our new Project Vernon entries on Facebook, for details of John Terry's picture, and YouTube for video clips of the proposed location and Les Johnson's maquette!
We're almost there in terms of our application to be registered as a Charitable Trust. The process is very thorough, as one might expect, so it's simply taken longer than we had expected. That's why we've held off from starting to organise various fund raising events - so we can ensure we can claim back Gift Aid from donations. The final approval stage is only days away, we hope, so it's time to mention cheque books, credit cards and piggy banks to those who have pledged funds!!
Several keen supporters of Project Vernon are "waiting in the wings": Jimmy Bond, in Dartmouth, and CPO(D) Scott Fleming, of the Defence Diving School, have been kind enough to volunteer to help organise fund-raising events: more ideas and more such dynamic support, please! We've set ourselves a challenge and we need to make further progress! Sponsored swims, runs and bike rides are great ways to keep fit and raise money for the campaign: the social side of such sessions is always important!

"Maintain momentum" was the maxim adopted at the last Committee Meeting: the focus is now on recruiting more support, via the three Sub-Committees (Finance, Communications & Production), progressing the monument's design, selling the Danger at Depth prints and raising the necessary finances. We are actively looking for all sorts of volunteers and organisers, serving or retired, MW or D backgrounds, from all parts of the globe... we now have supporters as far afield as Australia and Canada. Every little helps...

Do please feel free to post your own blog entries as comments in response to this entry.

Have a great Xmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Best regards

04:27 GMT | Read comments(5)

06 November

November - a month of milestones
I'm pleased to be able to report that the past couple of months have seen more steady progress on several important project issues. Another newsletter will be out soon but here are the current Project Vernon headlines:

The three shortlisted sculptors have been working on their maquette models, ready for the final selection on 24th November
We have submitted our application to be registered as a Charitable Trust: We hope for a reply by the end of this month
The three Associations involved in the project (AORNFCD, MCDOA & MWA) are now fully represented in all respects in all the committee's activities - serving and retired, Mine Warfare and Diving.
Our bank accounts and Trust arrangements are all now in place, so we can operate effectively as a charity organisation
Pledges for funding have reached over £18,000 - planning is underway for a series of major fund-raising events in Nov / Dec
By the end of next week we will have surveyed the Vernon Canal seabed around the likely location for the monument
We are expecting a surge of publicity and support once the final monument design is published - do please register for news
John Terry, the artist, has produced an amazing oil painting of the scene portrayed by the monument - watch this space!
Responses to invitations to become Vice-Patrons have been very positive - see the website's Information tab for details

So, we will soon be at the stage where the end goal is more clearly defined and it all comes down to support and finances, which will determine when we can achieve our goal. It's not the best year to be asking for donations, even for such a worthy cause, but we have a cunning plan to offer value in return for sizeable donations!

Do please feel free to send in your own comments on this blog entry - don't be shy! Now is an important time to gather feedback, positive or otherwise, on the Project overall and the Organising Committee's published decisions and intended plans... All opinions are welcomed...

Best regards

DC

07:49 GMT | Read comments(0)

08 September

Sculptor selection - The PQQ process
More, positive progress to report! After several weeks in August scheduled for the longlist of sculptors to prepare and submit their respective Pre-Qualifying Questionnaires, the Production Sub-Committee scored each entry at a milestone meeting on 28th August. The end result is we now have three shortlisted candidates who most closely match the style, scope and materials we envisage will meet our needs. The technique we used was for each sculptor to provide details of three reference statues or pieces of work that they felt best represented their experience and abilities. We were also looking for a strong commonality with our own specification (ie: technical in detail; accurate historically; mounted in or by the sea, possibly; with a significant Wow! factor that befits the subjects, heritage, environment and location). Each artist then was asked to provide answers to several common questions so that we could draw a valid, objective comparison between the wealth of talent being considered. Not an easy task, but after a day's deliberations we got there in the end...

Many thanks go to John Terry, Head of Fleet Graphics plus other sculptors, not in the selection process, who helped devise the scoring system: we had set a tough challenge, it seems! Each sculptor will now be asked to produce a miniature mock-up (a "maquette") of their own design over the next couple of months. We will then choose a finalist, by the end of November.

Our next step is to arrange for the three sculptors to visit Gunwharf Quays (the intended site), HMS Collingwood (The Mine Warfare Operational Training Centre) and Horsea Island (the Fleet Diving Squadron) for detailed briefings on 18th September.

16:19 GMT | Read comments(0)

31 July

Project Vernon - PR and Communications

Dear all

Project Vernon Press Release 01-2008 went out on 15th July 2008. There's been a warm response thus far with very positive feedback from supporters around the world. For those who'd like to see a copy, it's posted on our website at: Press Release PR01-2008

Matt Jackson, Defence Reporter at the Portsmouth News, kindly wrote a full-page spread on Project Vernon, which was really good local coverage. There's an on-line version of his article available on The News website at: Project Vernon article.

To reach as wide a coverage as possible, on 31st July we also released an e-newsletter distributed to all those involved or registered with the Project, covering the selection process for the project's sculptor. Please sign up at: e-Newsletter subscription for future editions.

Were these documents interesting and useful to read? Please let the Organising Committee know! All opinions and feedback welcomed...

Best regards

DC

06:33 GMT | Read comments(0)

06 July

Web site launched for the Vernon Monument!
Hi guys!

It's live... it's the Beta version, with no metatags and some photos that need cropping still, but please have a browse and let me know what you think?

Best regards

DC

10:33 GMT | Read comments(4)

PROJECT VERNON Mine Warfare & Diving Monument

Nothing too AWKWARD to achieve...