After a nine-month delay forced by the Coronavirus emergency, an imposing memorial to Lancashire’s last single-county regiment has finally been installed at the National Memorial Arboretum, the nation’s year-round centre for remembrance.

The memorial, the result of an extraordinary and monumental fund-raising effort which raised over £160,000 in just four years, commemorates The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, and those that served in the fine and proud county regiment.

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It was due to be unveiled in March before the largest gathering of former members of the Regiment since it was amalgamated in 2006, but the Coronavirus outbreak forced a delay in completion and postponement of the unveiling.

Installation has now been completed ready for a re-organised official dedication ceremony, hopefully to be held later in 2021 once it is safe to do so.

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The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment was formed by the amalgamation of The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) and The Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Volunteers) at Connaught Barracks in Dover on the 25th March 1970. Both these great Regiments have a place on the memorial.

It became Lancashire’s only county Infantry Regiment and held the record of having the most Battle Honours of any line infantry regiment in the British Army, two of these being Quebec and Waterloo where predecessors of The Queen’s Lancashire’s fought with great distinction.

The Regimental family included previous units from the North, South, and East of Lancashire and its history can be traced as far back as 1689. It was the only English infantry regiment to have Her Majesty the Queen as Colonel-in-Chief, an honour now inherited by the successor Regiment, the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment

After the amalgamation in 2006, and feeling strongly that the years of service of their much-loved Regiment should not be allowed to disappear into history without commemoration, a group of Regimental veterans conceived the idea of a permanent Queen’s Lancashire Regiment memorial at the National Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Starting in 2016 with a bank balance of precisely zero, the group raised funds over the years through donations, auctions and various sponsored events which, through the enthusiastic and generous support of the

Regimental family and the people of Lancashire, raised a sum which is now approaching £180,000, for the design, construction and maintenance of what will be one of the most impressive memorials at the Arboretum.

Joe Horvath, Chairman of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment Veterans Charity:“This memorial has been made possible by the amazing generosity of not only our own Regimental veterans, but also the people of Lancashire.

“It just shows how fondly the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment is remembered. The support has been overwhelming. Words cannot express how grateful we are.”

Some 650 members of the Regimental family, many travelling from abroad, were due to attend the unveiling on 25th March 2020, the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Regiment. But with only 10 days to go, the outbreak of the pandemic forced its postponement.

With the pandemic showing no signs of abating, the organising committee then decided to go ahead with installation of the memorial, so that it is there for all to see when visiting the Arboretum. This was completed in early December 2020.

The Memorial stands proudly at the foot of the Arboretum’s central Armed Forces Memorial and has a magnificent backdrop. It can be clearly seen from most if not all angles of approach.

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