Jack Harrison VC MC Statue Campaign becomes a registered charity

It has been confirmed that the Jack Harrison VC MC Statue Campaign has now successfully navigated the process of becoming a registered charity.

On Wednesday 9^th September 2020, trustee Ian Peter Judson received an email from the Charities Commission confirming that the application for the Jack Harrison VC MC Charitable Trust had been successful and will appear on the list of registered charities within 48 hours.

Mr. Judson has been leading the campaign since 2016 and has continued to create fundraising opportunities as much as possible.

“To say that I am delighted at this news is something of an understatement,” he said.

“I owe a great deal of thanks to both James Clark and James Price at Hull FC, for their help and advice on several occasions, which have ultimately brought us to this stage.

“I also need to thank Gerry Morrison of Rollits solicitors who, having waived half her fee, helped put together and submit the successful application to the charities commission.

“Deep gratitude must also go to Kersty Smith at Hull CVS and to Barratt Homes for their generous donation which, along with other factors, put us in the financial position to be able to take this campaign to a whole new level.

“Mark Bones, Cassie Patton and Malcolm Scott must also take great credit for their efforts, along with all the other theatrical people who have worked with me on the plays that have brought this campaign and astonishing true story to a larger audience.”

The charity number for the Jack Harrison VC MC Charitable Trust, as registered on the Charities Commission list of registered charities, is 1191212.

The other trustees thus far are former teacher and WW1 expert Stephen Manners and Flo Straughan, wife of Peter Straughan who is the nephew of Jack’s wife Lilian and Alastair Brown, while a blood relative of Jack will also be appointed as a trustee in due course.

Mr. Judson added: “Jack Harrison, let us not forget, is a true inspiration, who deserves to be much better known and remembered in this great city.

“While I appreciate there are certain nods to his memory in Hull, I still very much believe he should be honoured in his hometown, with a statue, a place for his family who have no grave to attend in his memory, and a place where future generations can learn about him.

“We still have a long way to go to raise the money to be able to install a statue of him outside Hull Minster, but I believe we have taken a very big step in the right direction towards that goal, by achieving charity status.

“With the creation of this charity, we hope to be able to benefit many generations from now on, firstly by raising enough money for a statue of Jack Harrison VC MC, then beyond that, we wish to honour other prominent people from Hull’s history, in the same or similar ways to how we plan to remember Jack.

“During his lifetime Jack was, of course, a schoolteacher, a reserved occupation which he didn’t have to leave, but still did, to go and give his life on the battlefields of World War 1, and I’m sure, he would have approved of us educating as many people as possible about him.”