Patrons

Patron

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

In August 2007 Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall became War Memorials Trust Patron. She took on the role from The Countess Mountbatten of Burma CBE CL JP DL. The role of Patron is an honorary position and the Trust is delighted that HRH has given her support to the charity.

  

 

Area Vice-Patrons

England

Diana Graves

Diana Graves became involved with War Memorials Trust in 2002. Her husband, David Graves, wrote about the charity for the Daily Telegraph in an article published on 1st July 2002. A few days later he died in a diving accident. The Trust allocated £10,000, from the donations received in response to the article, to a grant scheme in his memory which ran for 5 years. Mrs Graves was invited to become involved with the Trust and the charity liaised with her over the grants made. Details of these can be found on the Grants Showcase under Special Grants. Mrs Graves works in the museum sector.

Sara Jones CBE

Sara Jones became involved with War Memorials Trust in May 2002, twenty years on from the Falklands War in which she lost her husband Lieutenant Colonel Herbert ‘H’ Jones VC, OBE, 2nd Bn, The Parachute Regiment. She is now involved in a number of organisations and charities many of which have a military connection. She is a Commissioner of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Chairman of the Falkland Families Association, Trustee of Falkland Island Memorial Chapel Pangbourne, President of the Royal British Legion Poppy Factory and Hampshire RBL Women’s Section. In addition she is involved with St John Ambulance, is a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire and acts as a Magistrate for South East Wiltshire.

Speaking of her role with War Memorials Trust, Mrs Jones said: “Having lost my husband during the Falklands in 1982 I know only too well the importance of war memorials, and I treasure the places where he is remembered. I know how I would feel if I thought that, sometime in the future, a memorial bearing my husband’s name was found in a poor condition, or worse thrown on a dump damaged and forgotten. I believe that the Trust’s work is vitally important to preserve this part of our nation’s history.” 

Wales

Major General The Reverend Morgan Llewellyn CB OBE

Morgan Llewellyn joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a National Service recruit in 1956 and rose to command the 1st Battalion of his regiment twenty years later. After commanding Gurkha Field Force in Hong Kong and one on star appointments in the MOD he became General Officer Commanding Wales and then Chief of Staff at HQ United Kingdom Land Forces, before leaving to be ordained as a clergyman. His ministry since then has been in his native Wales. He joined War Memorials Trust in 2001.

Speaking of his role with the Trust, Morgan said: “In Wales, as elsewhere, war memorials are regarded as an important part of our heritage both for the history they record and particularly as a tribute to the service and sacrifice which each community, large or small, has given for Queen and Country. Perhaps especially in Wales, where industrial changes have significantly altered the nature of communities, war memorials constitute an enduring link with the past that is extremely precious. War memorials were erected to commemorate members of industrial communities, individual factories, professions, schools and many other institutions as well as towns and villages. They are not always monuments but include such places as hospitals and public parks which become subject to changing circumstances. Keeping these links is essential if we are to keep trust with our forebears. Retaining, restoring, repairing, locating or relocating memorials is a continuous task and one that would be almost impossible were it not for the War Memorials Trust and their supporters. Wales is grateful for the continuing most excellent work of the War Memorials Trust in the Principality."

Simon Weston CBE

Simon Weston joined the Welsh Guards in 1978 at the age of 16 and served in Berlin, Northern Ireland, Kenya and the Falklands. He was serving in the Falklands War when the ship on which his regiment was travelling, the Sir Galahad, was bombed. 48 men died and Guardsman Weston suffered 46% burns. Since then Simon Weston has become a well known personality on radio and television and is heavily involved in charity work including Weston Spirit. He also speaks for soldiers and veterans, ensuring that concerns about military equipment and support for veterans are brought to the ears of politicians. He was a member of David Cameron’s commission to examine the “Military Covenant”. Simon Weston has published several autobiographies as well as fiction books and has been the subject of a number of television documentaries. He received the OBE for his charitable work in 1992. In 2002 he became involved with War Memorials Trust and is an Area Vice Patron in Wales.

Scotland

Admiral Roger Lockwood

Rear Admiral Roger Lockwood joined the charity as an Area Vice –Patron for Scotland in 2006. Based in Edinburgh, he is the Chief Executive of the Northern Lighthouse Board, responsible for the lighthouses, buoys and beacons in Scottish and Manx waters.

Prior to lighthouses, Roger enjoyed a 34 year career in the Royal Navy, finally retiring in April 2005. Serving at sea in ships ranging from a minesweeper to the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, he also spent a significant part of his career ashore involved in logistics, personnel, training and higher defence policy. His final appointment was as the Senior Directing Staff (Navy) at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

Roger lives in Dunblane with his wife, Susie, and five children. He is a Commissioner of the Queen Victoria School, Dunblane, the Chairman of the Perth Sea Cadet Unit and a High Constable of the Port of Leith. He was awarded the CB in the Birthday Honours List 2005.

Northern Ireland

The Lord Molyneaux of Kilead KBE PC

James Molyneaux served in the RAF during the Second World War and participated in the liberation of Belsen concentration camp. His career has been in politics, starting as the Honourable Secretary of the South Antrim Unionist Association in 1964, at which time he was a County Councillor in Antrim. He became the Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim in 1970, holding the seat until 1983 when, due to boundary changes, he became the MP for Lagan Valley. In this year he was also made a Privy Councillor. In 1985 he resigned his seat in protest at the Anglo-Irish agreement, but was re-elected in the subsequent by-election. Lord Molyneaux was the leader of the Ulster Unionist party in the House of Commons from 1974 until 1995 and in 1996 was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire. He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 election and was given a baronetcy, becoming the Lord Molyneaux of Kilead. Lord Molyneaux is a cross bench peer.

Lord Molyneaux served as Deputy Grand Master of the Orange Order and was Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution between 1971 and 1995. He served as a Justice of the Peace in Antrim for thirty years between 1957 and 1987. He has been involved with War Memorials Trust since its early days in the late 1990’s.