Navy Family's Design To Become Submariners Memorial

A Royal Navy family has won a national competition to inspire the design for a memorial to submariners.

The Groves family were announced as the overall winner of the competition, winning themselves a £1,000 prize.

They will see their design turned into a memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire next year.

"We are really passionate about the Submarine Service and we wanted to create a design that would fittingly be a memorial for all the submarine family," Chris Groves said.

"We will be hugely proud of the eventual memorial."

The design put forward by the Groves sees the top part of a submarine emerging from the ground.

According to the image submitted for the competition, visitors can then enter through the top part of the submarine and see 'water' above them, represented by blue glass.

Mr Groves also explained that his family has a close connection to the service.

"We brought in our three generations of submariner," he said.

"My father Adrian who joined the Navy in 1960 and joined submarines and did his training on HMS Opportune.

"I then joined the Submarine Service and I and did my training on HMS Opportune, and my son Nick who now is away on patrol joined the Submarine Service and he did his training in HMS Victorious on which I was the navigator.

"Nick’s partner Emma also joined us and is a submariner and Si Ellis, who’s dad was on HMS Rorqual as a submariner."

The competition had three categories: under-11s, 11 to 18s and over-18s.

All categories were open to members of the public, including nearly 15,000 Sea Cadets from more than 400 units around the UK.

Ten-year-old Heather Dent, whose brother is a submariner, won the under-11 category.

Zoe Perowne, who is a Sea Cadet at TS Dauntless and whose grandfather was a submariner, won the 11 to 18 age category.

"The Vanguard, Astute and future Dreadnought-class submarines bear little resemblance to those of yesteryear but the spirit, professionalism and ultimately, sacrifice, of the people who serve in them are identical.

"Today’s submariners remember with pride those who have gone before and support the new memorial with all their hearts," Head of the Submarine Service, Commodore Jim Perks, said.

The winners will be invited to attend the opening of the memorial in 2022 by Prince William, Commodore-in-Chief Submarines.

The National Memorial Arboretum is on a 150-acre visitor site on the edge of the National Forest and exists as a year-round space to celebrate lives lived and commemorate lives lost, and make sure the contribution of those who have served and sacrificed is never forgotten.

Cover image: The winning design by the Groves family (Picture: Royal Navy).