THE widow and the mother of Red Arrows pilot Jon Egging have spoken of their hopes for a “positive, uplifting and inspiring” memorial to him.

Flight Lieutenant Egging died at the age of 33 after he crashed in fields in north Bournemouth following a Red Arrows display at last year’s air festival.

His tragic death sparked a flood of moving tributes from his family, friends, Red Arrows fans and Bournemouth residents and the idea of building a permanent memorial to him quickly took hold.

Yesterday his wife Dr Emma Egging and mother Dawn returned to Bournemouth to look at memorial designs and ideas submitted by school and college pupils from across the town. Together with artist Tim Ward they spent hours sifting through the entries and have now selected a winning design, which will be unveiled next week.

Dr Egging, 33, who lives in Rutland, said: “The memorial to Jon is such a positive thing. It’s been so wonderful that people in Bournemouth have been so incredibly supportive and generous with their time and their words of support and the fact that young people have come together and put their hearts and souls into this project for us is really so uplifting.

“The memorial is about capturing that, taking forward the vibrancy, creating something that’s a fitting legacy to Jon but something that the people of Bournemouth can really enjoy as well. So much happened around the air show, there was such an outpouring immediately afterwards with the books of condolence and the Facebook pages.

“What was lovely was that a lot of impetus from the memorial came from the public wanting something to mark the tragedy but also to encapsulate the qualities Jon had of strength, teamwork and companionship. We see it as being a very positive thing.”

In the six months since Jon’s death, Dr Egging has worked hard to set up and fund the Jon Egging Trust, a scheme which seeks to provide new opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

She said she had two choices following last August’s tragedy – to shy away from the publicity or to use it to take Jon’s ethos forward and create a legacy he would be proud of.

Jon’s mother Dawn, of Warwickshire, said she knew her son would approve of all the work being done in his name.

“He would have been so proud of Emma, and very chuffed and very embarrassed,” she said.

“Everything we’ve done since the accident it’s like Jon’s with us pointing the way.”

For more information about the Jon Egging Trust, visit www.jon eggingtrust.moonfruit.com