Background to the project

The Queen and the Mayor examine the first part of the work,
while Prince Phillip talks to the artists.

Crawley was granted New town status in 1947 under the New Towns act of 1946, it was one of six such towns. This event marked the beginning of Crawley as an important regional centre.
The Crawley of today is a thriving bustling place, It is a modern town filled with diversity and energy that has come a long way from the small turnpike staging post of the 1800’s. Yet despite this extraordinary growth, hints of Crawleys past can still be found, through its architecture and the layout of the town it is possible to understand some of the changes that Crawley has seen.

Alongside these clues to Crawleys past, The town like many others, has a tradition of making more formal commemorations of particular occasions when everybody comes together to mark special moments in the life of the town or the country. Jubilee Oak in the High Street was planted c.1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee festivities. Queens square and Queensway were named to commemorate the royal visit of 1958

To continue this tradition a return Royal visit was planned to celebrate Crawleys 60th anniversary as a new town, and a new commemorative feature was inaugurated by the Queen and Prince Phillip to mark the occasion.

For the public reception, at the beginning of the Royal progress around Crawley on the 4th of November 2006, the first part of the new feature, along with a model of the final intended monument, was temporarily exhibited in Queens Square for the Queen and Prince Phillip to inspect. The concept and future location of the work was described to the Royal visitors and they consented to be the first to provide their signatures towards the new monument that celebrates the town and the people of Crawley in 2007.

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How to get involved

We need to collect as many autographs as we can from people living, working or in some way linked with Crawley. To learn more about why we need so many autographs see the section entitled Crawley People Represented.

how you can help:

• Tell as many local people as you can about the project and our search for autographs.
  
• Contribute your autograph, better still those of your friends and family as well.
• Do you now of someone that you think should be represented, ask them to contribute too.
• Even better, collect as many autographs as you can and deliver them to a collection point.
  

• If you run a Local business, make sure it is represented, get all your staff to contribute autographs - and your clients.
• help to publicise the project - perhaps by prominently displaying a notice (A .pdf file that you can print out will be available soon for download here)
  
• You could even volunteer to become a collection point for public autographs.
  

Keep looking at this website for news and updates about the progress of the project.

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