As part of The Forget Never, (Oublier Jamais, Vergessen Niemals) project coordinated by the Basildon Borough Heritage Group and linked with Basildon’s twinning towns, Meaux in France and Heiligenhaus in Germany, a memorial called ‘The Empty Chair’ was installed at Lochnagar Crater in November. It was the culmination of work by the group and was carved by a local woodsman, Hannes Johannsen from Heiligenhaus, from an oak tree which had fallen during a recent storm but would have been a sapling at the time of the Great War and been passed by so many local young men going off to fight; many never to return. Empty chairs are used the world over to signify the loss and pain of missed loved-ones so it is fitting that such a memorial be made to those young men who would have never seen the tree again.
An article about the inauguration can be found here https://bit.ly/2DULpQs
