PREPARATIONS are being made for a public dedication ceremony for a new monument in Weymouth.

And the campaign to honour former MP and anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Fowell Buxton has received a boost thanks to a £4,900 National Lottery grant to support educational work.

The dedication of the monument, which is at Bincleaves Green, follows a long campaign for this social crusader to be recognised locally.

The lottery grant enables the Thomas Fowell Buxton Society to fund an information board to be positioned next to the monument.

In addition, the funding covers a dedication service and the production of a commemorative booklet telling the story of Sir Thomas, the society and its wider educational work. The grant will also cover heritage educational packs for local primary schools.

The public dedication ceremony of the Buxton Monument will be on Monday, June 5. The ceremony, to which the public are invited, will start at 11.30 am. Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Rev Karen Gorham, will lead the service with the Rev Edward Tildesley acting as chaplain.

The Rt Rev Antony Footit, former Bishop of Lynn, and Frances Jones-Davies, eldest daughter of the late 7th Baronet will give the readings from Scripture. Others in attendance include the Mayor of Weymouth & Portland Kevin Brookes, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset Angus Campbell, High Sheriff of Dorset John Young, the Deputy High Commissioner of Barbados Alphea Wiggins and Sir Crispin Buxton, 8th Baronet.

The Lord Lieutenant will unveil an information board and give a short speech.

The monument was designed by Peter Loizou, then a student at Weymouth College. The 144 stones of the monument were carved by Weymouth College students under the tutelage of Master Craftsman Richard Mortimer and assembled and erected by Mitchell Construction and Albion Stone. The cost of erecting the monument was paid for entirely by public donations and fundraising events by the society.

The Weymouth monument complements other memorials to him in Westminster Abbey, Victoria Tower Gardens (London), Norwich Cathedral, St George’s Cathedral (Sierra Leone) and Mico University in Jamaica.