Lion campaign a reason for pride (From Bournemouth Echo)

Lion campaign a reason for pride

10:00am Friday 15th March 2013 in Opinion

THE decorated lions dotted around Bournemouth in 2011 brightened the town and raised money for charity.

But one of them did even more.

The lion that stood outside the Town Hall – and which was painted in tribute to the Red Arrows – became a focal point for an extraordinary outpouring of emotion that summer.

When Red Arrows pilot Jon Egging died in a crash following a display over the resort, the reaction of local people was genuine and overwhelming.

Many left flowers and messages around the Red Arrows lion in the following days. Now the lion looks set to return every year, set on a stone plinth, thanks to a campaign started by council worker Julian Sandy. It has already raised £8,000 for the Jon Egging Trust.

Just as the Red Arrows have become a summer tradition in Bournemouth, so, hopefully, will that lion. And so should the efforts to do good work in memory of Jon Egging.