Derbyshire engineering firm unveils moving memorial to ‘forgotten’ WWII disaster
Acres Engineering, a metal fabrication company based in Melbourne, Derbyshire, designed and manufactured a special memorial to the sinking of HMT Lancastria in 1940, the UK’s worst maritime disaster in which an estimated 2,500 to 7,000 people died. The memorial was unveiled during Armed Forces Week in June in remembrance of those lost, including the great-uncle of Acres Engineering’s managing director Luke Parker. The event included speeches from Parker, local dignitaries and descendants of victims, and featured a march by Sea Cadets raising funds for the Royal British Legion. Acres Engineering, which holds Armed Forces Gold Covenant status and recently won a King’s Award for Enterprise, is now seeking a permanent public home for the memorial.